[Gallagher]

Nooot exactly, no. Commonwealth just being a, uh... political system thing set up for the good of the people... Virginia has been a commonwealth since before we joined the US. For the states that use the commonwealth designation, it's more for emphasis than anything else, because it doesn't actually change anything.

And yeah, it's on the mainland, just close to the shore. Virginia and Maryland both gave up land to make the capital, the D.C. ended up giving Virginia's land back to us. It just keeps it on its own neutral grounds, rather than technically being part of one of the states and following the state rules as well.