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[[Image:Massachusetts_State_Flag.gif|thumb|right|The state flag of Massachusetts.]]

[[Image:Massachusetts_State_Flag.gif|thumb|right|The state flag of Massachusetts.]]

The '''Commonwealth of Massachusetts''' is a [[state]] in the [[New England]] region of the northeastern [[United States]].  Its capital city is [[Boston]]. The name is derived from the indigenous population, the "[[Massachusett]]".  It is one of four states officially known as "[[commonwealth]]s"; there are no practical differences between a "commonwealth" and a "state."<ref>The other three are Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Kentucky. An example of a state which really ''is'' legally different from the others is Lousiana; Louisiana state law is based on the French Napoleonic Code. The other forty-nine states (including the four "commonwealths") derived their state laws from English common law.</ref>

The '''Commonwealth of Massachusetts''' is a [[state]] in the [[New England]] region of the northeastern [[United States]].  Its capital city is [[Boston]]. Massachusetts became a state on February 6, 1788. The name is derived from the indigenous population, the "[[Massachusett]]".  It is one of four states officially known as "[[commonwealth]]s"; there are no practical differences between a "commonwealth" and a "state."<ref>The other three are Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Kentucky. An example of a state which really ''is'' legally different from the others is Lousiana; Louisiana state law is based on the French Napoleonic Code. The other forty-nine states (including the four "commonwealths") derived their state laws from English common law.</ref>

==History==

==History==