Why is Massachusetts referred to as a commonwealth, rather than a state?

Question

Also, is there a particular difference between the two?

Answer 1

Friday November 17, 2000 Previous | Next

Dear Yahoo!:
What is the difference between a state and a commonwealth?
Bryan
Virginia Beach, Virginia

Dear Bryan:
A search on "state difference commonwealth" turned up some useful results. At the About.com: Lawyers site, we learned that there are four commonwealths in the United States: Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Kentucky.
The difference between these commonwealths and the other 46 states is in name alone -- they elected to call themselves commonwealths, a term drawn from political theory. The About.com lawyer assured us that, legally, there is no difference between a state and these four commonwealths.

There is, however, another form of commonwealth. The ever-helpful Dictionary.com offers this alternate definition: a "self-governing, autonomous political unit voluntarily associated with the United States, namely, Puerto Rico and the Northern Mariana Islands." The degree of that dependency varies from place to place, but let's consider Puerto Rico as an example.

There are a few major differences between Puerto Rico and a typical American state:

The Internal Revenue Code does not apply to Puerto Rico.
Puerto Rico has no voting representation in Congress.
Puerto Rican citizens are not allowed to vote in presidential elections.
Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens; they pay social security, can receive federal welfare, and can serve in the armed forces. But they don't pay federal taxes, and they don't vote in presidential elections.
So far, they've voted to keep it that way. Consider it a limited partnership.

Answer 2

That's a good question since it has been a state since February 6, 1788.
http://www.50states.com/massachu.htm
http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=mg2homepage&L=1&L0=Home&sid=massgov2

Answer 3

Just how it was organized. Other states are like that too. I think maybe Virginia?