Can Someone Please Explain What Exactly A Commonwealth Of The U.S. Means?

Question

Puerto Rico is not a state of the US but it is a Commonwealth. What exactly does a Commonwealth mean? Thanks

Answer 1

i am from the Virgin Islands and my family from Puerto Rico and i am not exactly sure what it means.
In both places we are US citizens by birth ( virgin islands is a terriatory not a common weath) we pay taxes and pay into social security medicare and medicaid etc. We can not vote for president in those places because we are not a state. but if we move to anywhere in the us and register to vote we can vote for president. we don't have a voting member in congress of the senate even though their laws affect us also (taxation without representation) we have delagates who are non voting members who have to use other members to get laws passed.

Answer 2

I think you have to look at the meaning of the word. There are some states that are commonwealths, like Virginia...but they are still different from Puerto Rico. I'd look at it more as just a title...and I think Puerto Rico would be better defined as a United States Territory.

Answer 3

In the terminology of the United States insular areas, a Commonwealth is an organized territory or colony that has established with the Federal Government a more highly developed relationship, usually embodied in a written mutual agreement. There are currently two United States insular areas holding the status of commonwealth, the Northern Mariana Islands and Puerto Rico. In 1976, Congress approved the mutually negotiated Covenant to Establish a Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) in Political Union with the United States. In the case of Puerto Rico there is no such written mutual agreement. The Commonwealth of the Philippines was an insular area that held commonwealth status from November 15, 1935 until July 4, 1946, when the United States recognized the independence and sovereignty of the Philippines.

Of the current U.S. insular areas, the term was first used by Puerto Rico in 1952 as its formal name in English ("Commonwealth of Puerto Rico") since a strict translation of its name in Spanish would have been unacceptable to the U.S. Congress. The formal name in Spanish for Puerto Rico is "Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico," which translates literally as "Associated Free State of Puerto Rico." The name "Estado Libre Asociado" summarizes the aspirations of many of those who want to maintain and even "improve" the relationship with the U.S., with greater autonomy and perhaps sovereignty, albeit with or without a U.S. passport. It is noted that the Commonwealthers present their status as an association with the United States under common citizenship, common defense and common currency but also protecting Puerto Rico's national identity. As of November of 2004, roughly half of the voters appear to have a preference for Commonwealth, the other half being for statehood with the U.S.A. and a small portion (roughly 3 %) seems to back independence[citation needed].

Four of the constituent states of the United States officially designate themselves Commonwealths: Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. This designation, which has no constitutional impact, emphasizes that they have a "government based on the common consent of the people" as opposed to one legitimized through their earlier Royal Colony status that was derived from the King of Great Britain. The word commonwealth is of English derivation and refers to the common "wealth" or welfare of the public. In common parlance, people do not make the distinction between state or commonwealth.

Answer 4

Normally it's effectively a free trade agreement. Puerto Rico is given preferential treatment (lower trade tariffs. etc) when dealing with the U.S. And likewise the U.S. benefits from lower trade tariffs when trading with Puerto Rico.
Puerto Rico is however, effectively the 51st state (despite turning down formal status in a referendum a couple of years ago), and I belive it's citizens can vote in US presidential elections in New York.