“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”I doubt in 1791, when the Founders wrote the First Amendment, they were thinking campaign finances, yet in 2010 it became applicable. In 2008, a conservative group named Citizens United produced a movie critical of presidential candidate Hilliary Clinton. Citizens United’s goal was to pay cable companies to make the movie free to watch on pay-per-view for any of its customers in the month leading up to the Democratic primaries. However, the film was not shown as a District Court deemed it violated the Federal Election Campaign Act which, “prohibits corporations and labor unions from using their general treasury funds to make electioneering communications or for speech that expressly advocates the election or defeat of a federal candidate.” This decision eventually made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court in 2010 as the case of Citizens United v. FEC. While the District Court had only cited the most recent 1974 law, it was actually standing on about 100 years of precedence.While smear campaigns are as old as the nation, financing elections is much newer. In early elections, candidates were wealthy enough to spend their own money, and instead of asking others for donations they were expected to provide gifts, especially alcohol, to those coming to vote.After Andrew Jackson organized parties, fundraising picked up over the years but only took off after the Civil War and in the Gilded Age with massive campaigns that included advertising and gift giving. Republicans dominated during the Gilded Age and much of the reason was because they had more money. Republicans positioned themselves as pro-business and expected help with their campaigns from business owners.In 1904, when President Teddy Roosevelt campaigned for his second term, Democrats accused him of accepting large sums of money from corporations for the purpose of influencing his policies. Of course, Roosevelt denied the charges, but had to admit he did receive a great deal of money, making him look suspicious. To show he was above corruption, the president supported the passage of the 1907 Tillman Act which prohibited any corporation or bank from giving money to campaigns.Between 1904 and the 1970s, several new laws were passed to ...
