These four states chose to call themselves commonwealths, yet trying to find a reason why they did so is a futile exercise. The word "state" preceeded the word "commonwealth." Etymologists argue over whether the term predated medieval Europe, but all agree that the concept of "state" was established by then. Most social scientists define a "state" could be taken over by a military dictator and still retain its "stateness."
The social philosophers of the seventeenth century argued that the government should work for the common welfare of the governed while also indicating there was no evidence that they consciously tried to separate themselves from the other colonies that deemed themselves "states." Indeed, looking over the constitutions of the four commonwealths, we see that the crafters of the documents often used "commonwealth" and "state" interchangeably.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth#UnitedStates
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