Colonial Fleets - United Commonwealths of America-4 States Are Not "States"

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United Commonwealths of America-4 States Are Not "States"

Quote:

Officially the following are commonwealths, not states:
Kentucky
Massachusetts
Pennsylvania
Virginia
In common usage all these are normally referred to as being states.
The Northern Marianas Islands in the Pacific and Puerto Rico in the Caribbean are also commonwealths.

Dictionaries and encyclopedias that I have consulted offer two definitions of the word commonwealth:

A state in which the government functions with the common consent of the people. This definition would seem to me to be virtually identical to that of a democracy. One source describes the USA and its individual states as being commonwealths in this sense but with only the states listed above officially designating themselves as such. The term would therefore appear to be merely a description and to have little or no precise meaning.

A fixed but flexible association of states, as in the British Commonwealth and the Commonwealth of Independent States.

All of this leads me to wonder:
Why are those 4 "states" called commonwealths rather than states?
If Puerto Rico is a commonwealth rather than a state and is not called a state (aside from being referred to as the 51st state, which it isn't), why are those 4 commonwealths called states when they really aren't states?

Puerto Ricans do not pay income tax and do not have the right to vote in American elections. They have a representative in the House of Representatives, but even he isn't elligable to vote on anything, even including matters that affect his constituents.

Presumably, logically based on their non taxation and lack of true representation, Puerto Ricans cannot run for higher office such as President of the United States. So, why do people in Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia pay taxes if they are not officially a state, and why do they have voting rights as commonwealth citizens the same as Puerto Rico is, while Puerto Ricans do not?

Why can a person from the four listed commonwealths vote for president and run for president, while a person from the commonwealth of Puerto Rico can not?

Does anyone know the answers to these questions? I surely do not.

I think it's because those four commonwealths were admitted to the United States officially as states even though as the description admits that there is really no difference in a state or a commonwealth as far as anything in the governance.

Puerto Rico has not been admitted as a state. Those four states just call themselves commonwealths. I think it's only in the semantics...

Quote:

Originally Posted by The 14th Colony

A few nights ago on the Tonight Show, Ashley Judd, who lived and schooled in Kentucky, commented that Kentucky was not a state but a commonwealth; that 2 "states" were not actual states but commonwealths. I was intrigued by that new found information and somebody on another board pointed me to this link:
United States Commonwealths where I read the following:

All of this leads me to wonder:
Why are those 4 "states" called commonwealths rather than states?
If Puerto Rico is a commonwealth rather than a state and is not called a state (aside from being referred to as the 51st state, which it isn't), why are those 4 commonwealths called states when they really aren't states?

Puerto Ricans do not pay income tax and do not have the right to vote in American elections. They have a representative in the House of Representatives, but even he isn't elligable to vote on anything, even including matters that affect his constituents.

Presumably, logically based on their non taxation and lack of true representation, Puerto Ricans cannot run for higher office such as President of the United States. So, why do people in Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia pay taxes if they are not officially a state, and why do they have voting rights as commonwealth citizens the same as Puerto Rico is, while Puerto Ricans do not?

Why can a person from the four listed commonwealths vote for president and run for president, while a person from the commonwealth of Puerto Rico can not?

Does anyone know the answers to these questions? I surely do not.

Your post is well written ............and I have NO IDEA why these 4 Commonwealths are allowed to vote and have representations in
the congress and the senate and even to have presidents from
THEIR location ..........I guess some of the presidents who came
from there weren't TRUELLY Presidents then? :wtf:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Charybdis

Hmmmmmmmmmmnnnnnnnh I think You HAVE something THERE :salute: