Following a national plebiscite in July 1937, the new Constitution of Ireland (''Bunreacht na hÉireann'') came into force on 29 December 1937. This replaced the Constitution of the Irish Free State and called the state ''Éire''.John T. Koch, Celtic culture: a historical encyclopedia, ABC-CLIO: Santa Barbara, 2006. While Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution defined the national territory to be the whole island, they also confined the state's jurisdiction to the area that had been the Irish Free State. The former Irish Free State government had abolished the Office of Governor-General in December 1936. Although the constitution established the office of President of Ireland, the question over whether Ireland was a republic remained open. Diplomats were accredited to the king, but the president exercised all internal functions of a head of state. For instance, the President gave assent to new laws with his own authority, without reference to King George VI who was only an "organ", that was provided for by statute law.