# State vs. Commonwealth **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 19, 2022, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-vs-commonwealth/958061 "2022-01-19T15:51:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2022, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-vs-commonwealth/958061/21 "2022-01-23T03:46:34Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > At the time each of those parishes were founded, which was years before Louisiana was acquired by the US As I posted earlier, only 12 counties were in place in 1803. An additional 13 were created by 1812. What is the evidence that the later ones followed older parish lines? ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2022, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-vs-commonwealth/958061/22 "2022-01-23T04:07:42Z")
Apparently they didn’t. It was only the first 12 that followed existing parish lines. But that’s not contradicting anything I said. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2022, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-vs-commonwealth/958061/23 "2022-01-23T19:09:09Z")
Parishes also aren’t entirely geographical. At one time it was common for there to be two or three Catholic churches very close together, and serving basically the same geographical area, but catering to members of different ethnic groups. And nowadays, with the ease of transportation, it’s not uncommon for someone to drive past multiple other churches to attend the one where they’re a member of the parish. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2022, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-vs-commonwealth/958061/24 "2022-01-23T23:15:54Z")
There was rockabilly singer Commonwealth Jones, but no State Jones. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/X_zxr-nkncI/hqdefault.jpg "Commonwealth Jones - Who's Been Here") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_zxr-nkncI) ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2022, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-vs-commonwealth/958061/25 "2022-01-24T04:32:08Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > It’s a totally meaningless decorative term there too. Puerto Rico and the Northern Mariana Islands are both organized unincorporated territories. There isn’t a special commonwealth status that sets them apart from the US Virgin Islands and Guam. Right, it’s sort of been historically adopted by Congress and the territories as the _styling_ formality of how to address the body politic of those organized unincorporated territories that have had proper constitutions ratified by both a local constitutional convention AND Congress (as opposed to just an organic act imposed by Congress). More out of some notion that once you have a constitutional body politic you _have_ to officially call it _something_ legalese-sounding. But the word itself is not what defines the condition (Thus, in the case of the Philippines, there _was_ a substantive change since the regime created was explicitly a transitional stage towards full independence within 10 years; but in both the case of PR and NMI it has been repeatedly made damn clear there is no commitment to progress to either statehood or independence before Hell freezes over) Heck, in the 1989-91 hearings about possible status changes for Puerto Rico it was brought up that the English styling for the new state would upon admission remain “Commonwealth of” until otherwise explicitly amended, since it’s a feature of the internal constitution as already previously ratified by Congress. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2022, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-vs-commonwealth/958061/26 "2022-01-28T17:20:40Z")
And England also styled itself a Commonwealth for a short while (under Cromwell). ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2022, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-vs-commonwealth/958061/27 "2022-01-28T20:42:48Z")
> [@Schnitte](#): > > And England also styled itself a Commonwealth for a short while (under Cromwell) And that probably was in mind when MA, PA, and VA declared themselves commonwealths. Although I don’t know the exact history of those declarations, so possibly not. But it’s a way of saying “we’re not a kingdom”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-vs-commonwealth/958061.md?page=1)