The Republicans had been badly burned by intervening in social issues in the Midwest; they had scant desire to try again as the 1892 election cycle approached. The Democrats, knowing the election was theirs to lose, were cautious. They recognized that the tariff remained an albatross around the Republican Party’s neck. Far from being a problem for the Democrats, lynching carried little political cost with their Southern base. It reinforced their standing as a white man’s party and defender of Southern home and womanhood.
