why are some states referred to as commonwealths
There is no difference between a commonwealth and a state in the U.S. To Locke, Hobbes, and other 17th-century writers the term commonwealth meant an organized political community -- what we today call a state..Officially Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Virginia, and Massachusetts are all commonwealths.here is no difference between a commonwealth and a state in the U.S. To Locke, Hobbes, and other 17th-century writers the term commonwealth meant an organized political community -- what we today call a state..