Irishmen and Irishwomen! In the name of God and of the dead generations from which she receives the
old tradition of nationhood, Ireland, through us, summons her children to her flag, and strikes for
her freedom …….
We declare the right of the people of Ireland to the ownership of Ireland, and to the unfettered
control of Irish destinies, to be sovereign and indefeasible……In every generation the Irish people
have asserted their right to National freedom and sovereignty; six times during the past three
hundred years they have asserted it in arms. Standing on that fundamental right and again asserting
it in arms in the face of the world, we hereby proclaim the Irish Republic as a Sovereign
Independent Sate, and we pledge our lives and the lives of our comrades to the cause of its
freedom, of its welfare, and of its exaltation among the nations ……
The Republic guarantees civil and religious liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities to all
its citizens, and declares its resolve to pursue the happiness and prosperity of the whole nation
and of all its parts, cherishing all the children of the nation equally, and oblivious of the
differences carefully fostered by an alien government, which have divided a minority from the
majority in the past ……
We place the cause of the Irish Republic under the protection of the Most High God, whose blessing
we invoke upon our arms…… In this supreme hour the Irish nation must, by its valour and discipline,
and by the readiness of its children, to sacrifice themselves for the common good, prove itself
worthy of the august destiny to which it is called.
Signed on behalf of the Provisional Government
Thomas J Clarke Sean MacDiarmada Thomas MacDonagh P H Pearse Eamon Ceannt
James Connolly Joseph Plunkett