Relative To “Commonwealth” Status, How Do The Commonwealths Of Virginia And Puerto Rico Differ?
Virginia, pennsylvania, Kentucky and Massachusets all are “commonwealth” states. I believe that this mainly has to do that when they originally bound together as a “commonwealth” they were made up of different autonomous colonial settlements. The settlements then bound together as a commonwealth to centralize and unify their power, when they decided to rebel against the English monarchy. The commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is still an autonomous legal institution and only a protectorate of the U.S. They are not officially a state (although perhaps should be) and do not get certain benefits and support from the federal government and do not have representatives within any of our government branches.
