Massachusetts

Massachusetts (officially, The Commonwealth of Massachusetts) is a state in the New England region of the United States of America. Its nickname is the Bay State. Other nicknames are the Old Colony State, and less commonly the Puritan state and the Baked Bean state. On December 18, 1990, the Legislature decided that the people of the Commonwealth would be designated as Bay Staters.

Government

See Also: Massachusetts Constitution, List of Massachusetts Governors

Related Topics:
Massachusetts Constitution - List of Massachusetts Governors

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The capital of Massachusetts is Boston and the current governor is Mitt Romney (Republican). The state does not maintain an official governor's residence. Massachusetts's two U.S. senators are Edward Kennedy (Democrat) and John Kerry (Democrat); as of the 2001 redistricting, Massachusetts has ten seats in the United States House of Representatives (all Democratic), giving Massachusetts the largest one-party delegation in Congress (i.e. twelve Democrats). The state legislature is formally styled the "Great and General Court"; the highest court is the "Supreme Judicial Court."

Related Topics:
Capital - Boston - Mitt Romney - U.S. senators - Edward Kennedy - John Kerry - 2001 - United States House of Representatives - Congress - State legislature - Great and General Court - Supreme Judicial Court

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"Commonwealth" or "state"?

Massachusetts is officially termed "the Commonwealth of Massachusetts" (rather than "State") by its constitution. It is one of four U.S. states that use the name "Commonwealth;" the others are Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Kentucky. This is distinct from the U.S. federal government's use of the term "commonwealth" to refer to the status of certain insular areas such as Puerto Rico.

Related Topics:
Commonwealth - Constitution - U.S. state - Pennsylvania - Virginia - Kentucky - Insular areas - Puerto Rico

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In the era leading up to 1780, when the state Constitution was ratified, the word Commonwealth was the preferred term among political writers for a whole body of people constituting a nation or state. There may have been some anti-monarchic sentiment informing the use of the word Commonwealth, which was also used to mean "republic."

Related Topics:
1780 - Republic

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The name "Commonwealth" for Massachusetts can be traced to the second draft of the state Constitution. The previous draft of the Constitution, and all acts and resolves up to 1780, had used the name "State of Massachusetts Bay." The second draft was written by John Adams and ratified in 1780. In Adams's draft, "Part Two, Frame of Government," states, "?that the people? form themselves into a free, sovereign, and independent body politic, or state by the name of The Commonwealth of Massachusetts." In his "Life and Works," Adams wrote:

Related Topics:
John Adams - 1780

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:"There is, however, a peculiar sense in which the words republic, commonwealth, popular state, are used by English and French writers, who mean by them a democracy, a government in one centre, and that centre a single assembly, chosen at stated periods by the people and invested with the whole sovereignty, the whole legislative, executive and judicial power to be included in a body or by committees as they shall think proper." http://www.sec.state.ma.us/cis/cismaf/mf1a.htm

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After the adoption of the Constitution, the state has always been officially called The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, although residents commonly refer to it both as "the state" and as "the Commonwealth." For example, on March 22, 2005, one Boston Globe story said that opponents of a proposal saw it as "burdening the state with more law schools than it needs," while another published the same day noted that "the Commonwealth faces difficult spending choices."

Related Topics:
March 22 - 2005 - Boston Globe

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Legal holidays observed

Whenever a holiday falls on a Sunday it is observed on the following Monday.

Related Topics:
Holiday - Sunday - Monday

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* Celebrated only in Suffolk County (Boston, Chelsea, Revere, Winthrop)

Related Topics:
Suffolk County - Boston - Chelsea - Revere - Winthrop

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