Commonwealths

The thirteen commonwealths of the United States were created in 1969, as a new division of government. Both state and commonwealth names were used to describe regions and governmental entities before and after the Great War. In Massachusetts, the foundation of the Thirteen Commonwealths resulted in the discontinuation of the use of the local State House. In Appalachia, federal documents use the distinction "Territory of Appalachia."

Commonwealths in games
There are a total of thirteen commonwealths covering the United States of America. However, only two have been referred to in released games.

Two states are formally referred to as commonwealths, a distinction unrelated to the thirteen superstates. These are Massachusetts (formally the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as per its constitution, becoming known as simply "the Commonwealth" after the Great War) and Virginia (formally the Commonwealth of Virginia).

Appalachia's status within the commonwealth system is unclear. A terminal entry makes reference to Watoga (part of Appalachia) being in an unnamed commonwealth. The region as a whole is referred to by many different names throughout Fallout 76, with multiple variations on a "Territory of Appalachia." A special election poster for "Senator of the Appalachia Territories" has a background featuring six states: Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee.

Great Midwest Commonwealth
This commonwealth encompasses the state of Illinois.
 * ED-E's pre-War Illinois license plate reads "Great Midwest" across the top.

Southwest Commonwealth
This commonwealth encompasses the state of Nevada.


 * The commonwealth name is seen on the Red Rock Canyon stone marker and Nevada state flag.
 * The bumper sword's pre-War Nevada license plate reads "Southwest" across the top.

Commonwealths in other media
Two commonwealths are mentioned in material outside of the main games:
 * The Columbia Commonwealth is mentioned on official Bethesda store merchandise, within a certificate of ownership for a Nuka-Cola delivery truck.
 * The New England Commonwealth is mentioned in the Fallout 2d20 rulebook's blurb on Easy City Downs, a race track in the Boston, Massachusetts, area.

Behind the scenes

 * The idea of dividing the United States into thirteen commonwealths originated during Fallout's development (1997). According to Tim Cain, Leonard Boyarsky did not wish to use the regular 50-star flag and instead used the 13-star design because "it looked cool," and planned to explain it as it being divided into 13 super-states, but the explanation never materialized.
 * The commonwealths were planned to be expanded on in Van Buren. The tech demo (2003) includes an U.S. soldier serving in a division of the Great Midwest Commonwealth. Following its cancellation, Joshua Sawyer published a breakdown of the commonwealths and their constituent states in his unofficial RPG (2004), explaining that the commonwealths were an intermediate level of government between the state and federal powers created in the early 21st century, the purpose being to help create legislation broad enough to affect states with common concerns, but narrow enough to leave dissimilar states alone. In reality, it created even more strife, as commonwealths typically did everything they could to promote their own interests at the expense of other commonwealths. Sawyer's commonwealths include:


 * Commonwealths were first explicitly mentioned in Fallout: New Vegas (2010), with the Great Midwest Commonwealth and the Southwest Commonwealth being named in-game. In Fallout 4 (2015), the commonwealth foundation date was established as 1969, which differs from the "early twenty-first century" date of establishment from Joshua Sawyer's unofficial RPG.