Today’s listener question is a twofer: “What is the difference between a state and a commonwealth and which will Puerto Rico become?” We discuss the differences, the reason Puerto Rico might become a state, and how adding states has benefited political parties.
Our guest for today is Robinson Woodward-Burns, a professor of political science at Howard University.
Transcript
Nick Capodice: [00:00:00] You're listening to Civics 101 I'm Nick Capodice.
Hannah McCarthy: [00:00:02] I'm Hannah McCarthy.
Nick Capodice: [00:00:03] Today's question comes from our listener, Jennifer, who wrote "What is the difference between a state and a commonwealth? Will Puerto [00:00:10] Rico become a state or a commonwealth?" So we will explain those differences and the history and process of adding states to our union, stars to our canton.
Hannah McCarthy: [00:00:19] I grew up in a commonwealth. [00:00:20] So what is the difference between that and a state?
Nick Capodice: [00:00:23] Well, the short answer is none whatsoever.
Hannah McCarthy: [00:00:27] None at all.
Nick Capodice: [00:00:27] No. At least if we're talking about the four states [00:00:30] that refer to themselves as Commonwealth: Massachusetts, Kentucky, Virginia and Pennsylvania, there is no legal distinction between them in a state. And anyway, it's purely political [00:00:40] philosophy. When those states wrote their constitutions in the 17 and 18 hundreds, they used the term Commonwealth to more align themselves [00:00:50] with the thoughts of Thomas Hobbes and John Locke. It was a common term back then representing the ideals of a democratic state.
Hannah McCarthy: [00:00:56] It's actually quite lovely. But what about Puerto Rico? [00:01:00]
Nick Capodice: [00:01:00] Oh, well, here we go. Puerto Rico is one of five U.S. territories. They also refer to themselves as a commonwealth. But again, they are a territory, meaning [00:01:10] they currently have no representation. Over three million Americans live there, but they don't send anyone to Congress. They don't have any electoral votes. They don't vote for president. They don't pay [00:01:20] federal income taxes, but they do pay payroll taxes.
Nick Capodice: [00:01:23] However, this November, the people of Puerto Rico voted that they wished to become the fiftyfirst [00:01:30] state.
[00:01:31] Ms. Colon, for five minutes. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On November the 3rd, Puerto Rican voters made a clear choice to become a permanent part of this [00:01:40] union, to become a state in equal footing, an equal responsibility with the 50 states.
Nick Capodice: [00:01:45] So to learn about the process of adding Puerto Rico as a state, I spoke to Robinson Woodward-Burns. He's [00:01:50] a professor of political science at Howard University. He first told me why the Democratic Party is interested in adding it as a state.
Robinson Woodward-Burns: [00:01:58] One thing that we see is that the Senate [00:02:00] is malapportioned. It over-represents rural areas. And this is is pretty famous. If you look, for example, at Wyoming, this is a state with two escalators and two senators it [00:02:10] over represents its constituents, particularly relative to, say, California, which is a much more populous state. So it's a famous sort of problem. [00:02:20] It's built into the Constitution and it would take a constitutional amendment to revise that. And those small rural states are never going to allow an amendment like that to be [00:02:30] ratified. So if the Senate is unfixable, the answer might be to just bring in more states.
Hannah McCarthy: [00:02:35] We've shifted gears here from naming conventions like Commonwealth versus [00:02:40] state to actually creating a state. Which sounds like it would benefit one party over another.
Robinson Woodward-Burns: [00:02:49] People will say that [00:02:50] again, this might be a partisan move, but it's always been partisan. When Republicans in Congress in 1889 were facing pretty long [00:03:00] shot electoral odds in the 1890 election, they simply created six new states and they got 12 senators out of it. The Dakota territory became two different [00:03:10] states overnight, and this has been done often in 1860 for Nevada, with 20000 people, became a state in advance of the 1864 election. [00:03:20]
Hannah McCarthy: [00:03:20] I did not know that.
Nick Capodice: [00:03:21] Me neither. And maybe it's because it's been so long since any states have been admitted.
Hannah McCarthy: [00:03:26] I know Washington, D.C. is being considered for statehood as well, and [00:03:30] both they and Puerto Rico lean Democrat.So if they're both admitted, that would add four senators from the Democratic Party?
Nick Capodice: [00:03:39] Maybe [00:03:40].
Robinson Woodward-Burns: [00:03:40] Congress under Article four has broad authority over the territories, including Puerto Rico, to admit those states. Again, the two sort of arguments against D.C. and Puerto [00:03:50] Rico statehood, that it's partisan, that sort of misses the point and that, you know, their constitutional objections to that. I don't think those really stand up historically. I think the real barrier [00:04:00] to D.C. and Puerto Rico statehood are whether Democrats are actually willing to play hardball come January 3rd, should they take the Senate. And that remains to be seen.
Nick Capodice: [00:04:10] And [00:04:10] flag makers would indeed have their work cut out. That's Commonwealths and adding states on Civics 101. You can submit your questions at our Web site civics101podcast@nhpr.org. [00:04:20]
