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Is
Virginia Really a State? What the Heck is a
Commonwealth?
It
all started in 1619 at Jamestown. Gov.
Sir George Yeardley authorized the first meeting
of Virginia’s General Assembly, giving as one
reason, “for the better establishing of a
commonwealth here” (History
of Virginia -- Meaning of Commonwealth).
The
term "commonwealth," dating from the 15th
century, derived from the old meaning of “weal”
or “wealth,” which meant “well-being.”
Commonwealth, then, originally meant a state or
nation governed for the common good, rather than a
specific class of people. The term probably arose to
describe efforts to limit the power of kings – the
most well-known being the Magna
Carta in 1215. The term took on more specific
political meaning between 1649 and 1660 when England
had no monarch, but was ruled by a Lord Protector,
the Puritan Oliver
Cromwell. His government was called the Commonwealth
of England.
Virginia,
however, did not adopt the term commonwealth until
the Revolutionary War. In colonial times, the state
was officially known as the Colony and Dominion of
Virginia. When delegates met in Williamsburg in 1776
to ratify a state constitution, they adopted
“commonwealth” as the name for their new
government – perhaps to echo the Puritans’
rebellion against the king of England more than 100
years earlier.
Besides
Virginia, three other states – Massachusetts,
Pennsylvania and Kentucky – still use the term
commonwealth to describe their government.
Massachusetts and Pennsylvania were among the
thirteen colonies that originally broke ties with
England in 1776. Founded by Puritans and Quakers
respectively, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania also
may have appreciated the historical significance of
the term. Kentucky was a part of Virginia until it
joined the nation as the 15th state in 1792 and kept
the term in its new constitution.
So,
what’s in a name? Are a commonwealth and a state
the same thing? When it comes to our nation, the
answer is yes. Basically, the term
“commonwealth” is only symbolic. By ratifying
the U.S. Constitution, which uses the term
“state” to refer to subunits of the nation,
Virginia, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Kentucky
all must abide by the federal legal system and
political order of the U.S. outlined in that
document. It doesn’t matter what they call
themselves.
But,
just to confuse things, “commonwealth” does have
other meanings. For example, Puerto Rico and the Northern
Mariana Islands, both U.S. territories, are
referred to as commonwealths. In this case, the term
refers to the territories being self-governing and
associated with the U.S. In Puerto Rico, residents
are U.S. citizens, but cannot vote in the U.S.
Internationally,
commonwealth has yet more meanings. The Commonwealth
of Nations (once referred to as the British
Commonwealth) refers to 53 nations that were once
part of the British Empire. Unlike U.S. territories,
they are not connected politically, but do have
social, ideological and philosophical ties to each
other. The Commonwealth
of Independent States refers to 12 of the 15
former republics of the Soviet Union that have loose
ties with each other. Even certain nations such as
Australia, the Bahamas and Dominica also refer to
themselves as commonwealths.
But
the term is more than just a name with many
meanings. Just think. Since the notion of states and
commonwealths are interchangeable, we all could be
residing in “The United Commonwealths of
America,” instead of the good old U.S. of A.!
NEXT:
Oh Say Can You See? Lookouts and Lighthouses in
Virginia
--
November 6, 2006
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