ShepherdsDog wrote:
Actually the USA only has 46 'states'. Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia are officially referred to as Commonwealths, not states.
Puerto Rico and the Northern Marianas Islands are referred to as Commonwealths, too, and are "incorporated" according to the legal definition; that is, they have functioning local governments. Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia qualify as "states" under the constitution even though they lack the word "state" in their official names. Puerto Rico and the Northern Marianas Islands do not qualify as states, and thus lack various voting rights and cannot be federally taxed.
"Commonwealth" is not a legally defined status within the jurisdiction of the United States Federal Government. It's a statement of self-image and intent, not a legal status. Puerto Rico has the best claim to unique status, since they have a Resident Commissioner to the House of Representatives (the only elected representative to the House who serves in four-year terms instead of two-year), but having "Commonwealth" in its name does not itself bestow that unique trait. The Northern Marianas call their representative the "Resident Representative," but his powers and duties are identical to the non-voting Delegates of other territories.
Brenda wrote:
Washington DC is not a state either, is it?
No. Washington is the only city in the federal District of Columbia. The District was specifically set aside so that the capital of the nation would not reside in any particular state. It was thought that housing the capital would give one state an advantage over the others, and the equality of the states is a sacrosanct principle of the design of the Federal Government.
The District of Columbia (DC) does
not have the same status as a state. Far from it. It has no representation in the Senate; has only a non-voting Delegate to the House of Representatives; and their local laws can be overturned by Congress for any reason, and sometimes are simply because Congressmen are annoyed by, say, that particular parking restriction. Only since 1961 (and by Amendment to the Constitution) can they vote for President of the United States, and by law have the same number of electoral votes as the smallest state (which means 3). Because of that and their inability to elect voting representatives in the US Congress, they have considerably less political power than any state. In the past, they've protested that in various ways and are quite annoyed that almost no one outside of the District knows of their plight.
Long ago, JJ made
a chart (about halfway down the page) of the nations of the world which have federal districts, and pointed out that the USA is the only one that hasn't given its district representation in the federal legislature.
ShepardsDog wrote:
[...] and numerous territories [...]
The other inhabited territories of the United States besides the District are: American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Marianas Islands, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands. These are the ones with non-voting representation in the House of Representatives, called Delegates except as noted earlier.
There are other US possessions inhabited only by the occasional scientist, including: Bajo Nuevo Bank, Baker Island, Howland Island, Jarvis Island, Johnson Atoll, Kingman Reef, Navassa Island, Palmyra Atoll, Serranilla Bank, and Wake Island. All of them except Bajo Nuevo and Navassa are in the Pacific Ocean, and were united under the title Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument by President George W. Bush and are protected by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. The two exceptions are in the Caribbean. Technically, Palmyra Atoll and Wake Island are populated since Palmyra has a permanent research facility and Wake has a military base on it, but they are not governed as populated areas and have no native residents.
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