[1] The Council, with Doe as its chairman, promised a complete overhaul of Liberia's society, economy, and political system and the replacement of the corruption of previous regimes with respect for the rights of the Liberian people.

[3] For a long portion of its history, its government was dominated by Americo-Liberians, a group of free people of color and freed slaves from the United States and their descendants who first established Liberia in 1822 as a colony of the American Colonization Society, a private philanthropic organization based in Washington, D.C. and led by a number of leading American statesmen.

[4][5] From Liberia's independence until the coup that gave rise to the PRC, the Americo-Liberians controlled nearly every aspect of Liberian political and social life, eventually creating a strict one-party system organized around the True Whig Party.

Public disaffection continued with Tolbert's decision to host the 1979 Organization of African Unity annual summit in Monrovia, building a state-of-the-art conference center and hotel specifically for the event at a cost of more than USD$25 million.

[7] In addition to an overall lack of development and a stagnant economy, this unrest precipitated the 1980 Liberian coup d'état that would lead to the creation of the PRC.

[3][4][6] On 12 April 1980, Samuel K. Doe led a group of 17 soldiers in a coup d'état that overthrew and killed then-president William Tolbert.

[2] In the wake of the coup, the PRC emphasized a goal of creating a new system of governance and societal organization rooted in support of the country's commoners.

[2] While the PRC ruled formally by decree, its decisions and amendments to Liberian law would continue in effect unless and until a successor body rescinded them.

[13] Doe's favoritism towards the Krahn people increased tensions by encouraging boundaries and status differences among native Liberian ethnic groups.

[12] Under Doe and the PRC, poor nutrition, lack of access to drinking water, unemployment, and rising violent crime rates characterized life in Liberia.