[4] Contrariwise, the rest of Middle and West Tennessee who had supported and driven the state’s secession was equally fiercely Democratic as it associated the Republicans with Reconstruction.

[6] White Democrats in West Tennessee were always aiming to eliminate black political influence, and during the 1880s they attempted to do this by election fraud and stuffing of ballot boxes.

[8] This would lead to much more drastic changes in the future, but in the presidential race Democratic nominee and incumbent President Grover Cleveland, running with the former Senator and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Ohio Allen G. Thurman won only 52.26 percent of the popular vote, against former Indiana Senator Benjamin Harrison (R-Indiana), running with Levi P. Morton, the 31st governor of New York who gained 45.76 percent.

Cleveland’s margin was, given the political changes taking place, only a small improvement over his 1884 win in Tennessee; however, he did re-establish the majority-black far southwestern part of the state as rock-ribbed Democratic until the party turned towards Civil Rights under Harry S. Truman.

The Union Labor Party chose Alson Streeter, a former Illinois state representative, and Charles E. Cunningham as their presidential and vice-presidential candidates and received 0.02% of the vote.