Virginia

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You will often hear Virginia referred to as the Commonwealth of Virginia. This does not mean that Virginia has a different form of government than any other state. “Commonwealth” is defined as a political unit or government in which supreme authority is vested in the people. Virginia has a very extensive history and interesting government. Virginia’s history dates all the way back to the first permanent English settlement in the “New World” and a majority of Virginia’s political leaders focus their attention on the rights of the people.
Virginia was founded in May 13, 1607 at Jamestown. The first use of commonwealth in Virginia was early in its history. One reason given by Governor George Yearly for authorizing the first General Assembly meeting at Jamestown in 1619 was for “the better establishment of a commonwealth here.” From 1649 to 1660, England and Virginia did not have a king. Instead, the Puritans ruled over a Lord Protector, Oliver Cromwell. The government was called the Commonwealth of England. This commonwealth ended when King Charles II reclaimed the throne in 1660.
In Colonial time, Virginia was officially known as the Colony and Dominion of Virginia (hence the nickname “Old Dominion”). When the 13 colonies broke ties with the British Crown during the Revolution, the old name of government (Commonwealth of England) was no longer suitable. The delegates to the convention in Williamsburg, when the first Constitution of Virginia was adopted on June 29, 1776, used commonwealth as the name for the new form of government. It is likes they had in mind the Puritans’ rebellion against the Crown in England more than 100 years earlier.
Other states such as Pennsylvania and Massachusetts also chose to be called commonwealths after independence from Great Britain. The other 10 former colonies took the name “state,” the term used in the Declaration of Independence. Kentucky was once part ...