Declaration of a New Order

Despite the unanimous support from senators for the Galactic Republic's transition into the Galactic Empire, the address itself garnered a variety of reactions. Some senators favored the change, viewing it as an opportunity for peace after the three-year-long Clone Wars and its resulting devastation. These senators also believed it would strengthen their own positions of power. Conversely, others, notably those who signed the Delegation of 2000, privately disagreed with the message but felt compelled to support it for their own safety, given the presence of armed personnel in the room ready to retaliate against dissent. During the address, Padmé Amidala, the Naboo senator representing the Chommell sector, reflected that "to thunderous applause" was "how liberty dies". Mon Mothma, the Chandrilan senator who later became a key leader in the Alliance to Restore the Republic, later commented that she never believed Palpatine's words, especially his claims of Jedi treason, and expressed her dismay at her fellow senators applauding Palpatine's deceptive statements. The complete text of the address was later published in the Republic HoloNet News Special Inaugural Edition 16:5:241, which marked the final broadcast of HoloNews. Excerpts from the speech were also frequently included in the official field manual for the Imperial Military, titled Imperial Handbook: A Commander's Guide, released nineteen years following the Proclamation. In his introduction to the Imperial Handbook, Palpatine acknowledged that the Proclamation of a New Order and the subsequent transformation from Republic to Empire represented an unprecedented shift in galactic power, but also emphasized the people's desperation and the Republic's unsustainable course, implying that his decision for the Senate was made in the best interests of the people.

Certain aspects of this text are inconsistent with the text presented in the novelization of the 2005 film Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith, such as the "Safety, security, justice and peace!" chant. The author of the Insider article acknowledged that he had forgotten to consult the novelization before writing his article. Additionally, the order of some phrases was altered from the film (for instance, in the article, the phrase "And the Jedi rebellion has been foiled." appeared after "The remaining Jedi will be hunted down and defeated." whereas in the film, the order was reversed).

It is important to note, however, that the novelization's text differs from what is depicted in the film. The segment in the novel is as follows:

The film version of this text goes as follows:

In the DVD commentary for Revenge of the Sith, George Lucas explained that the intertwined scenes of the Proclamation of a New Order and the Mission to Mustafar served as an homage to the christening and assassination sequence in the 1972 film classic The Godfather, directed by his friend Francis Ford Coppola.

According to Lucas, the proclamation, along with Padmé Amidala's remark about liberty dying "from thunderous applause," was intended to allude to the ascent of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler in Germany. Similarly, Palpatine's line in both the novelization and the full speech included in Star Wars Insider about his new Empire enduring for 10,000 years mirrored Hitler's promise of a "Thousand-year Reich," despite the fact that both the Galactic Empire and the Third Reich proved to be relatively short-lived (although the Galactic Empire did last longer than the Third Reich).

In the novelization, during his speech, Palpatine declared that it was "Morning in the Republic", which was reminiscent of President Ronald Reagan's 1984 campaign advertisement "Morning in America."

In the 2nd and 3rd drafts of the script for A New Hope, the Galactic Empire is called the "First Galactic Empire", the same wording Palpatine uses when proclaiming the Galactic Empire in Revenge of the Sith.