The issue involved far more than duties on a bewildering set of commodities; it carried the burden of arguments over economic equity and morality. Both parties cast the election as a clear-cut choice between protection and tariff reform, but while using the tariff to emphasize the differences between the parties, both the Democrats and Republicans had to bridge the differences between their own antimonopolist and regular wings. The Democrats linked the tariff to special privilege and monopoly, unleashing the ferocious rhetoric of antimonopolist congressmen onto the campaign trail.
