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Government of Massachusetts. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is governed by a set of political tenets laid down in its state constitution. Legislative power is held by the bicameral General Court, which is composed of the Senate and House of Representatives. The governor exercises executive power with other independently elected officers: the ...
The secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a constitutional officer in the executive branch of the U.S. state of Massachusetts.Originally appointed under authority of the English Crown pursuant to the Charter of the Massachusetts Bay Company, the office of secretary of the Commonwealth (equivalent to "secretaries of state" in other U.S. jurisdictions) became an elective one in 1780.
The coat of arms is encircled by the Latin text "Sigillum Reipublicæ Massachusettensis" (literally, The Seal of the Republic of Massachusetts). The Massachusetts Constitution designates the form of government a "commonwealth", for which respublica is the correct Latin term. The seal uses the coat of arms of Massachusetts as its central element.
The area that is now Massachusetts was colonized by English settlers in the early 17th century and became the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the 18th century. Before that, it was inhabited by a variety of Native American tribes. Massachusetts is named after the Massachusett tribe that inhabited the area of present-day Greater Boston.
Massachusetts is the sixth-smallest state by land area. With over seven million residents as of 2020, [note 1] it is the most populous state in New England, the 16th-most-populous in the country, and the third-most densely populated, after New Jersey and Rhode Island. Massachusetts was a site of early English colonization.
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, "Regarding the Use and Dissemination of Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) by the Executive Department.", Executive Order No. 495, Jan 2008. House Bill No. 1416 (The Public Safety Act of 2007), "AN ACT IMPROVING PUBLIC SAFETY IN THE COMMONWEALTH" , 2007.
Commonwealth is a term used by four of the 50 states of the United States in their full official state names: Kentucky, [1] Massachusetts, [2] Pennsylvania, [3] and Virginia. [4] ". Commonwealth" is a traditional English term used to describe a political community as having been founded for the common good, and shares some similarities with the ...
General Laws of Massachusetts. The Massachusetts General Laws is a codification of many of the statutes of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The Commonwealth's laws are promulgated by an elected bicameral ("two-chamber") legislative body, the Massachusetts General Court. The resulting laws—both Session Laws and General Laws—together make ...