Commonwealth of VirginiaGovernment

The Commonwealth of Virginia is a constituent federated state of the United States of America, exercising sovereign constitutional government in the Mid-Atlantic region. Structured under the Constitution of Virginia into executive, legislative (the Virginia General Assembly), and judicial branches, its mandate is to enact state laws, provide public education, administer transportation and public safety infrastructure, and protect civil liberties. Tracing its roots to the founding of Jamestown in 1607 as the first permanent English settlement in North America, Virginia established the first representative legislative assembly in the Western Hemisphere in 1619, declared its independence and adopted its inaugural state constitution in 1776, and ratified the United States Constitution as the tenth state on June 25, 1788.