In 1776 the word "commonwealth" harkened back to the period when
Cromwell was in charge in England and there was no Crown and no House of
Lords. I think that in Virginia, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania, the
authors of their constitutions selected that name deliberately because
they created new governments with no royalty and no titled aristocracy
as part of the government. The other colonies called themselves states,
but it is curious that none called itself a republic or a country, all
of which would have been more or less equally legitimate and correct.
The first Kentucky constitution was very largely influenced by the first
Virginia constitution, which is why Kentucky is the fourth commonwealth.
The different names denote no difference among the states.

On the question about when the laws of the state began, I perceive from
the headings "Interregnum" and "first year of the commonwealth" that
this question derives from viewing the collection of the laws of
Virginia that William Waller Hening compiled and published early in the
19th century. "Interregnum" is a term that he imposed on the period
during which the five revolutionary conventions met between August 1774
and July 1776 and in effect took over running Virginia from the royal
government. The ordinances that those conventions passed appear under
the heading "Interregnum." It is another distinction without a
difference.

Brent Tarter
The Library of Virginia
[log in to unmask]

Please visit the Library of Virginia's Web site at
http://www.lva.virginia.gov

-----Original Message-----
From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of [log in to unmask]
Sent: Friday, May 23, 2008 12:09 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [VA-HIST] What makes VA a commonwealth?

I've often wondered about this -- why are VA, PA, MA, and KY
commonwealths and the rest of the states of the union are states?
I'm assuming KY inherited its commonwealth-ness from VA.

I was looking at the early laws of Virginia -- the titles go from "In
the 12th year of King George III" to "Interregnum" -- in 1775 -- well
before the actual death of George III -- but surely after the battles of
Lexington and Concord -- to "In the first year of the commonwealth."  So
the laws of Virginia actually predate statehood.  

Maybe Maryland's laws predate statehood, but there is no such title at
the top of each page...http://www.aomol.net/html/legislative.html

Neither is there a title at the top of each page of North Carolina's
laws (see google books -- link is too long).

Joe McCollum
Information Technology Specialist
Forest Inventory and Analysis
Knoxville, TN  37919




_____________________________________________________________
Click here to find all of your computer accessories for less!
http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2111/fc/Ioyw6iifZCJG619uBn4CaqHSy8c1
er8QgpyHCe4fvIXotDtd3C3g4a/?count=1234567890

______________________________________
To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions
at
http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html

______________________________________
To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at
http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html