Signing the 1935 Constitution of the Philippine Commonwealth on March 23, 1935. Seated, left to right: George H. Dern, Secretary of War; President Franklin D. Roosevelt, signing the Constitution of the Philippine Commonwealth; Manuel L. Quezon, President. | Photo via Wikimedia Commons
Part II of “Commonwealth Option for U.S.A.” Series
On New Year’s Day of 2025, this column proposed to “Change the name of political territory from State to Commonwealth.” The columnist feared that his prediction of constitutional and socioeconomic crises under a new administration might come true. Hence, a solution was needed to prevent chaos in governance and any turmoil that might ensue—from human and civil rights to economics—resulting in a complete breakdown of the American federal union. It becomes Part I of a new series called “Commonwealth Option for U.S.A.”
It was the gist of the January 1, 2025, column: QUOTE. Political pundits and legal minds, especially experts on the U.S. Constitution, will agree that the (present) four commonwealth states were all British colonial possessions before the formation of the United States in 1776. Some of their laws and institutions are strongly influenced by English common law.
Therefore, it can be argued that the peoples of Kentucky (then as a district of Virginia), Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia have the right to insist that their status as “commonwealth states” be preserved and expanded. Why? Because they had self-governance in place when they joined the United States of America. UNQUOTE.
Political Science was taught in both the Benedictine-run San Beda College’s School of Law, and the Ateneo de Manila College of Law, a Jesuit school, where this journalist was a member of their Class of 1970. He spent his freshman year at SBC. “Commonwealth” was a traditional English term that meant “a political community founded for the common good.” The exact definition is found in many reference books and encyclopedias. Therefore, “commonwealth” means “public welfare, general good or advantage”.
It traces its use back to the 15th century in England. Initially, the phrase (the commonwealth or the common wealth) was often expressed in the modern synonym “public wealth.” It comes from the old meaning of “wealth,” which is “well-being,” and was deemed analogous to the Latin res publica. Hence, a “commonwealth” can also function as a “republic” type of governance.
The term means “common well-being”. In the 17th century, the definition of “commonwealth” expanded from its original sense of “public welfare” or “commonweal” (sic) to denote “a state in which the supreme power is vested in the people.”
It is public knowledge, especially in the Bluegrass State, that Kentucky became a commonwealth on June 1, 1792, when it was admitted as the 15th state into the United States. Kentucky was part of Virginia until 1792, when Virginia ceded the Kentucky district to the United States. Colonel George Nicholas, who became Kentucky’s first statesman, wrote its Constitution of 1792.
“This new series will argue that Kentucky can inspire the Filipino people to reinvent their archipelago into a real commonwealth oasis and help them attain a government and economy “of the people, by the people, for the people.”
The Constitution established Kentucky as a separate commonwealth within the Anglo-American constitutional tradition. Kentucky’s fourth Constitution, adopted in 1891, is currently in use. Kentucky is the only state outside the original Thirteen Colonies to use “commonwealth” in its name.
It was probably the reason President Lincoln, who was born in Kentucky, said in his most famous speech that those who perished during the American Civil War “shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” The Gettysburg Address was delivered in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on November 19, 1863.
Not everybody knows that the four Commonwealths of Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia inspired Filipino leaders to choose “Commonwealth” as the new name of their government as an American colony in 1935.
Article XVIII of the 1935 Philippine Constitution says:
SECTION 1. The government established by the Constitution shall be known as the Commonwealth of the Philippines. Upon the final and complete withdrawal of the sovereignty of the United States and the proclamation of the Philippine independence, the Commonwealth of the Philippines shall thenceforth be known as the Republic of the Philippines.
For more details, please read this as an advance assignment for readers: https://elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocs/3/352.
By this Wednesday, Part III of this series will discuss a hypothesis as to why Kentucky was the main reason Filipino leaders chose their new government to be called a “Commonwealth.” This new series will argue that Kentucky can inspire the Filipino people to reinvent their archipelago into a real commonwealth oasis and help them attain a government and economy “of the people, by the people, for the people.”
