First steps to legal reforms of electoral finance in USA

Background. The legal regulation of electoral finance is one of the most debated issues in countries that define themselves as democracies. The question of how to establish a transparent and publicly accountable system of electoral finance is solved in different countries in different ways, which, to a large extent, is determined by the historical context. The purpose of this article is to analyze the ideological and political circumstances that have shaped American legislation on electoral finance. Materials and Methods. The study was conducted on the basis of historical and legal analysis of those doctrinal and political currents that set the direction of lawmaking and law enforcement practice in the first half of the 20th century in the United States. The analysis of normative and legal acts (such as the Tillman Act) was supplemented by the study of the ideological and social movement called “progressives”, which became the driving force of reforms that changed the shape of American electoral politics. Results. The article considers the first experiences of legal relation of electoral finance in the United States. The main driving force of legal reforms was the movement of progressives, which by the beginning of the 20th century received serious support in the legal community of America. Having started with the bills adopted at the level of individual state laws, by the end of the third quarter of the 20th century the supporters of this direction in the legal community of the USA managed to adopt a number of federal laws regulating the practice of electoral finance. Conclusions. Legal reforms of electoral finance in the United States became possible thanks to the efforts of representatives of the “progressive movement”. In turn, this led to the formation of opposition to these re-forms in the person of American conservatives. The further history of the American legislation regulating the rules of election campaign financing is determined by the struggle be-tween these two ideological and legal currents.