Commonwealth (U.S. state)

Commonwealth is a term used by four of the 50 states of the United States in their full official state names. “Commonwealth” is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good.[1] The four states – Kentucky,[2] Massachusetts,[3] Pennsylvania,[4] and Virginia[5] – are all in the Eastern United States, and prior to the formation of the United States in 1776, were British colonial possessions (although Kentucky did not exist as an independent polity under British rule, instead being a part of Virginia). As such, they share a strong influence of English common law in some of their laws and institutions

The term “commonwealth” does not describe or provide for any specific political status or legal relationship when used by a state.[8] Those that do use it are equal to those that do not. A traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good, it is used symbolically to emphasize that these states have a “government based on the common consent of the people”[9] as opposed to one legitimized through their earlier colonial status that was derived from the British crown. It refers to the common “wealth”, or welfare, of the public[10] and is derived from a loose translation of the Latin term res publica.