ABSTRACT
The Publicity Act of 1910 quickly followed to establish the nation's first federal political campaign disclosure system. However, the publicizing of contributors raised free speech concerns under the First Amendment to the US Constitution. The Publicity Act of 1910 and its 1911 amendment are noteworthy as examples of early attempts to regulate the role of money in politics and government, but neither was very effective. By the end of the nineteenth century, many states had enacted campaign disclosure laws that required candidates for public office and their campaign committees to publicize the sources and amounts of their campaign contributions and expenditures. The act required political committees to identify contributors of $100 or more and recipients of expenditures of $10 or more. Congress revised the Publicity Act in 1911 to cover prenomination activities conducted in and around political conventions and primary election campaigns.
