Why Are Some U.S. States Called Commonwealths?
Four U.S. states are officially known as commonwealths because their constitutions use that term. So why did the writers of those constitutions make that choice? Because the word commonwealth has traditionally referred to a political community founded on law for the common good—and that was an important value they wanted to express.
The word commonwealth is a combination of the words common and wealth, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, which dates the word’s earliest known use to the 15th century. This etymology expresses the aspirations of a political entity that finds wealth (or weal, “good” or “well-being”) in community. Commonwealth was often used by Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and other 17th-century writers to describe an organized political community. For them, it was synonymous with the ancient Roman concepts of civitas (a body of people) or res publica (Latin for “the public thing,” which gave rise to the word republic). These were important political and cultural precedents for understanding the sovereign political entity that we today call a state.
In the United States, there are four states known as commonwealths:
The use of the word commonwealth by these states carries no legal distinction. There is no difference, except in name, between a commonwealth and a state in the United States. For these four states, the term commonwealth serves as a symbolic nod to their historical roots and to their founders’ ideals about governance for the common good and their commitment to the principles of democracy and the welfare of the community.
The term commonwealth runs throughout other parts of British history. (The use of the word in the constitutions of Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, which were adopted around the time of American independence, have been documented as expressions of protest against the British monarchy.) After the execution of King Charles I in 1649, Oliver Cromwell established a republican government in Britain called the Commonwealth. The United Kingdom and a number of its former dependencies today are members of an association known as the Commonwealth (or Commonwealth of Nations), which evolved from the British Empire. So too, Puerto Rico is officially known as the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, which is a window into its complicated political status.