The Madison People's Bicentennial Commission was established in 1974 as an affiliate of the loosely-organized People's Bicentennial Commission (PBC). Like the national organization, MPBC hoped to provide an alternative to the officially-sanctioned American Revolution Bicentennial Administration. Also like the parent organization, the Madison group sought to focus public attention on the revolutionary and democratic aspects of the break from England by engaging in activities which sought to challenge the power exercised by corporate institutions over American life.
In 1975 PBC launched the Common Sense Campaign to focus the upcoming presidential campaign on the issue of economic democracy and corporate domination. In Wisconsin, the Common Sense Campaign was most evident in the disruption by the Madison People's Bicentennial Commission of Ronald Reagan's speeches in Milwaukee and Oshkosh in January 1976.
Throughout its brief existence the Madison People's Bicentennial Commission had few active members and was only loosely organized. It disbanded shortly after the 1976 presidential elections. The national PBC remained in existence, however, under the name People's Business Commission.
