The significant growth of scholarship on the issue of money in American politics in recent years does not mean that the problems with these matters have emerged only recently. In fact, they have been there since the beginnings of the American political system, and the scope of their influence has depended on the given state of the regulations – legislative and Supreme Court opinions – as well as the creativity of candidates and campaign operatives.

In the 19th century the problem of money in elections was of little interest to legislators, though this did not mean there was a lack of regulations concerning the operation of the selection, appointment and election of public officers on the federal level. The laws implemented at that time, however, had limited range, and resulted either from political scandals or social concerns about corruption among government officers rather than from a general necessity to regulate campaign finance issues. In the 20th century, reformers began to see campaign laws as a way to solve the problem of the proper regulation of the growing impact of money on politics and politicians during election campaigns. Due to the changing perspectives of ideologically based political forces, electoral procedures became less important than questions concerning the proper functioning of American democracy, the rule of law, and the scope of such crucial individual rights as freedom of speech or broad access to information. Today, the discussion over the proper scope of campaign finance regulations is highly politicized and divides representatives of the two major political parties as to the scope of control over said regulations. Money and politics have always been connected, but the active participation of big business, corporations, and political action committees as contributors to congressional and presidential campaigns have made the system prone to and dependent on high levels of funding. The issue has never been so tense and challenging as it is now, as the amount of money pumped into political campaigns at the beginning of the 21st century increases the concern of various social and political circles over the proper functioning of American democracy.