Talk:Commonwealth (United States)

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[edit] Kentucky

I believe the information here on Kentucky is not correct. I don't have the book before me, but I recall in a book on Kentucky Constitutional that the first constitution, the one which took effect upon statehood, called it the "State of Kentucky" and that the style "Commonwealth of Kentucky" was only adopted with the current Constitution, which took effect in the late 19th century. PedanticallySpeaking 18:29, 10 January 2006 (UTC)

I think that if that is true than you should put in under the Kentucky heading, since it is only a small stub there. --Kiki 19:52, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Article name

While this article provides interesting information on why some places use "Commonwealth" rather than "State", I can't find any real "debate" in it. Are there those who argue that "Commonwealth" should never (or always?) be used, or that it creates constitutional difficulties? As the article currently stands, there's no real mention of any controversy or disagreement. I'd suggest that unless there's some more information to be added, we might want to change the name, although I'm not sure what to. Perhaps just something like "Commonwealth (United States)". -- Vardion 01:13, 10 January 2006 (UTC)

  • I agree with Vardion. This article is misnamed, since there is no "debate". --JW1805 (Talk) 18:55, 5 February 2006 (UTC)
  • I agree with Vardion as well. If the state's constitution defines it as a commonwealth, then that's what it is. there's not really any plank for debate. I disagree with JW1805 though. I don't think a new article is called for, but I would support merging this information into Commonwealth (U.S. insular area). Stubblyhead 18:10, 6 February 2006 (UTC)
  • It is clear that people have not read both articles. They should do so. It will then become apparent to them that the articles talk about two entirely different uses of the same term. Those who simply assume a merge is appropriate because the same word is used in two different places are mistaken. - Keith D. Tyler 19:17, 6 February 2006 (UTC)
    • I think we agree that there are two separate usages of the term in the US. But, as it stands now, both articles contain both definitions (the State usage and the insular area usage). So why not just combine them into one article? --JW1805 (Talk) 00:12, 7 February 2006 (UTC)
      • They talk about two different institutions. They only mention eachother to say that they are not to be confused with eachother. REwhite 04:51, 13 February 2006 (UTC)
  • I think that Commonwealth_or_State? ought be renamed Commonwealth (United States), and that Commonwealth (U.S. insular area) ought be maintained as it is. It makes little sense to merge articles simply because they are homophones used in the context of the same nation. Additionally, an Otheruses disambiguation ought be at the top of each article. REwhite 04:57, 13 February 2006 (UTC)
    • I'm OK with this suggestion. As long as we can minimize the duplicated content in each article (a disamb at the top should do the trick). --JW1805 (Talk) 22:49, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

I can't find any real "debate" in it. Are there those who argue that "Commonwealth" should never (or always?) be used, or that it creates constitutional difficulties? If there ever was a survey to come out I'm sure there could be some debate found. Whether people actually would I don't know but if they are like me, then there would be. I'm from a commonwealth state and I don't like the term. Not because of the state I'm from, it's because of the state that I am in. I have no option other than to be here because of my job let that be known before someone makes a comment "well then move". When one person complains about the taxes or other charges this state puts on you and another person replies with "it's because it's a commonwealth" always seems to come out! So, because it's a commonwealth that is the right to charge more in taxes etc? I think not. Sorry, had to vent just some. Like I said before, I'm from a commonwealth and things are very different there from here. Thats also why I hate the term, just doesn't make any sense to me to make it an excuse is all.

    • In the case with Kentucky it was called Commonwealth of Kentucky and adopted all the laws of the Commowealth of Virgina except those changed by Kentuck's constitions and legislature. The process and mandates were styled as "State of Kentucky" until the 1850 constitution where it was changed to "Commonwealth of Kentucky", however, certain lingering "State of Kentucky", useages occur and this is at least a curiosity legally. It has been suggested that it is "two doing buissness as" names and one was captured or reorganised so as not to default on debts in the past. The Rumor is State of Kentucky tends to operate out of Louisville, instead of Frankfort, the legislative capitol. Im not shure if this is what you meant by debate, but there are plenty of theorists on such legal issues not just the Montana Freemen

[edit] Confusing

  • The article uses unbracketed sources that blur the line between original content & citation.
  • The intro rambles into several different topics.

Cwolfsheep 12:48, 11 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Editing

This is the boldest I've ever been so far. I've removed a lot of the quotations, and a lot of repetition. I hope it's OK. RupertMillard (Talk) 16:29, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

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