The Difference Between a Commonwealth and a State

The Difference Between a Commonwealth and a State Have you ever wondered why some states have the word commonwealth in their name? Some people believe there is a distinction between states and states that are also commonwealths but this is a misconception. When used in reference to one of the fifty states there is no difference between a commonwealth and a state. There are four states which are officially known as commonwealths: Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Virginia, and Massachusetts. The word appears in their full state name and in documents like the state constitution. Some places, like Puerto Rico, are also referred to as a Commonwealth, where the term means a location that is voluntarily united with the U.S. Why Are Some States Commonwealths? To Locke, Hobbes, and other 17th-century writers, the term commonwealth meant an organized political community, what we today call a state. Officially Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Virginia, and Massachusetts are all commonwealths. This means that their full state names are actually The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and so on. When Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Virginia, and Massachusetts became part of the United States, they merely took the old form of state in their title. Each of these states was also a former British Colony. After the Revolutionary War, having Commonwealth in the state name was a sign that the former colony was now ruled by a collection of its citizens. Vermont and Delaware both use the term commonwealth and state interchangeably in their constitutions. The Commonwealth of Virginia will also sometimes use the term State in an official capacity. This is why there is both a Virginia State University and a Virginia Commonwealth University. Much of the confusion surrounding the term commonwealth probably comes from the fact that a commonwealth has a different meaning when its not applied to a state. Today, Commonwealth also means a political unit having local autonomy but voluntarily united with the United States. While the US has many territories there are only two commonwealths;  Puerto Rico and the Northern Mariana Islands, a group of 22 islands in the Western Pacific ocean. Americans who travel between the continental U.S. and its commonwealths do not need a passport. However, if you have a layover that stops in any other nation, you will be asked for a passport even if you do not leave the airport. Differences Between Puerto Rico and the States While residents of Puerto Rico are  American citizens they have no voting representatives in Congress or the Senate. They are also not allowed to vote in the Presidential elections. While Puerto Ricans do not have to pay income tax they do pay many other taxes. Which means that, like the residents of Washington D.C., many Puerto Ricans feel they suffer from taxation without representation because while they do send representatives to both Houses, their reps cannot vote. Puerto Rico is also not eligible for federal budget money allocated to the States. There is much debate around whether  Puerto Rico should become a state or not.

10 Experiential Writing Prompts

10 Experiential Writing Prompts 10 Experiential Writing Prompts 10 Experiential Writing Prompts By Mark Nichol Write about what you know that’s one of the fundamental nuggets of wisdom for writers. â€Å"But I don’t know anything worth writing about!† you protest. You don’t? Anything is worth writing about if the writer finds something engaging about the subject. Try these writing exercises based on firsthand observation: 1. Read the titles of books you own or those at the library or a bookstore. Create a story based on one or more titles or words therein. 2. Watch an unfamiliar TV show or movie with the volume turned down and invent a story based on the setting and/or the characters. 3. Look up names in a baby book or on a baby-names website. (Yes, of course there are baby-name websites.) Create characters based on interesting names you find there, and build a story around them. 4. Research historical figures on Wikipedia or in some other reference resource. Write about a fictional episode in their life perhaps a chance meeting with another famous person (before or after they became famous) or assign some invented secret to their life and write about it. 5. Randomly look up words in a dictionary, or in any book or other publication. (Randomly select them by closing your eyes and lowering your fingertip to a page.) Create a situation or a plot around any combination of words you find (not necessarily all of them). 6. Study a painting or a photograph and write a story about the subject, whether it’s a person, a place, or a thing, or a combination of two or all three. 7. Cut words and/or pictures out of magazines, and arrange them in linear sequences or in groups or webs of relationships until you can articulate a through line of thought. Make that thought the first line of an article, poem, or story. 8. Visit a historical location a building, a site, a city and write a factual account of its history or create a story in which it features, or one inspired by it. Or do the same for any structure or location, even if it’s brand new. 9. Go to a public place and watch people (without, of course, making yourself obvious). Create backstories based on their appearance, their habits, and their communication styles. 10. Visit a zoo or an aquarium, or even a pet store or a dog run at a park, and study the animals. Develop human characters based on their characteristics and interactions, and write about these people you’ve created. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Fiction Writing category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:How to Structure A Story: The Eight-Point ArcDriver License vs. Driver’s LicenseEach vs. Both