Corruption in America : from Benjamin Franklin's snuff box to Citizens United / Zephyr Teachout.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 313-358) and index.

Four snuff boxes and a horse -- Intellectual influences on the framing conceptions -- Removing temptations -- An architecture of obstacles -- Corrupt kings, corrupt judges, and the critics -- Yazooism -- Is bribery without a remedy? -- The railroads, corruption, and judicial review -- Corrupt lobbying -- Treats, spoils, and the ballot with the flaming pink border -- Teddy Roosevelt's vision and the courts -- The jury decides -- Operation Gemstone -- Corrupt campaign contributions -- Citizens United -- The new snuff boxes -- Abstraction, innocence, dissonance, complacency, and contempt -- The revival of the American corruption principle -- Possibilities for current reform -- Conclusion -- Appendix 1: Anti-corruption constitutional provisions -- Appendix 2: Major twentieth-century anti-corruption law.

When Louis XVI gave Ben Franklin a diamond-encrusted snuffbox, the gift troubled Americans: it threatened to corrupt him by clouding his judgment. By contrast, in 2010 the Supreme Court gave corporations the right to spend unlimited money to influence elections. Zephyr Teachout shows that Citizens United was both bad law and bad history.