The Commonwealth Of Kentucky

Within the 50 states that make up our United States, four are designated as "commonwealth" rather than "state." Those four are Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Kentucky. Much like the adjustment I had to make in Louisiana last year when it came to using "Parish" instead of "County", it has taken me few days to make sure all my report references are to the "Commonwealth of Kentucky" rather than the "State of Kentucky."

According to Wikipedia,"This designation, which has no constitutional impact, emphasizes that they have a 'government based on the common consent of the people' as opposed to one legitimized through their earlier Royal Colony status that was derived from the King of Great Britain."



Originally Kentucky was a part of Virginia, but in 1785 residents began petitioning the Virginia Legislature for statehood. Statehood was granted on June 1, 1792 and in 1850 all references were adjusted from "State of Kentucky" to "Commonwealth of Kentucky" and have remained so until this day.

For the first 12 days I was here I drove to work in the morning while it was still dark, back to the hotel at night in the dark and had only seen the immediate area around our office in daylight when I went out for lunch. A couple of days ago I was able to leave work while it was still twilight and I got to see miles and miles of horse farms with some of the beautiful creatures grazing not far from the Interstate I drive on. When I get a couple of days off I'm going to enjoy doing some sightseeing in Kentucky. Horses, Bourbon Whiskey, and UK Wildcats, lol.

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