I'm a victim of the public school system, damn it! Here's what the textbook says: "Although the terms 'state' and 'commonwealth' are interchangeable in this country Presumably, communities which aren't formed for the good and welfare of all -- communities formed so that some can oppress the welfare of others -- are called despotisms.
Or just "Texas. In any case, commonwealth just sounds classier, if only because it's used less often. One hears of "rogue states" like Iraq and North Korea, for example, but never of "rogue commonwealths.
At any rate, the word "commonwealth" does carry some history: Along with the word "protectorate" it was used to refer to the government of England during the s reign of Oliver Cromwell and Parliament.
Dozens of former British colonies are still associated under the name as well. So the word carries with it certain associations that might have appealed to the Enlightenment-era minds of English colonists who helped establish Pennsylvania's independence.
It's probably no coincidence that two of the country's three other commonwealths -- Virginia and Massachusetts -- are also among the most storied of the original 13 colonies.
Kentucky is a commonwealth too, but I'm assuming they just did it to sound cool. There is, I should note, another type of commonwealth that is part of the U. Puerto Rico is considered a commonwealth of a separate kind: Its residents are U. But they don't have representation in Congress and are completely ignored in presidential elections.
Nebby post alert: Joke candidacy in Edgewood confused social media users, but not voters. Can you find out anything about the Jewish community here that would have supported a temple?
Tags Politics Ask Civics Nick Capodice. Nick has been the co-host and Education Outreach Producer for Civics since , where he creates episodes and works with teachers across the country to design lesson plans to pair with the show. See stories by Nick Capodice. Related Content. Read on, or listen to this short podcast episode for….
Hannah McCarthy. Jacqui Fulton. Read on for the answer. Do you have a question for the team? There are four states in the United States that call themselves commonwealths: Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
The distinction is in name alone. The commonwealths are just like any other state in their politics and laws, and there is no difference in their relationship to the nation as a whole. When used to refer to U. So why are they called commonwealths? Well, their constitutions simply deem them such.
According to one commonwealth's web site Massachusetts—the one in which Merriam-Webster is headquartered , the term commonwealth was preferred by a number of political writers in the years leading up to , when the Massachusetts constitution officially designated the state as such; the preference is believed to have existed perhaps because there was "some anti-monarchial sentiment in using the word commonwealth. That notion might seem strange to those familiar with another use of the word commonwealth.
Maybe you first came across the term on a US history test or while watching a documentary. But have you ever stopped to ponder what the word " Commonwealth " really means and why it's applied to some states and territories but not others? The global and historical answer behind it might surprise you. However, this term does not affect laws or life in these states today, nor did it when they were first created either. According to the Massachusetts State Government , the term "Commonwealth" was incorporated into their constitution in and was used to express the ideal that "the people [of Massachusetts] This framing of the state as a commonwealth derives from language of 17 th -century thinkers like Thomas Hobbes and John Locke and refers to the goal of creating a political community for the common good.
This was common language for politicians at the time aiming to express the ideals of a democratic state, but the term has never had an effect on the legal relationship of the state to the government. The states of Pennsylvania and Virginia included similar language in their state constitutions in , as did Kentucky in The question of commonwealths becomes a bit more complicated when we move beyond the continental United States to look at a few of its island territories.
Virgin Islands.
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