Tennessee especially the more rural areas even up through my teenage years {I'm 57} had some local officials in small towns who would throw you under the jail especially if family wouldn't miss you just for speeding or smarting off to the deputy. Tennessee has had some serious confrontations against law abiding citizens by elected officials being owned by crime syndicates. McNairy County was one of the more popular & recent ones.
The problem in government is officials have lost the fear of the wrath of citizens. It doesn't always mean the confrontations against corrupt officials should be violent by any means. But then again no citizen should feel like they are being silenced or an official use their official powers to act against a political opponent for personal gains.
Personally I'd like to see a return of the traditional shaming of being rode out of town on a rail return.
No your so called heroes took the law into their own hands, yes they one the election that they had the ballot boxes for, the entire effort proved useless as the corruption continued with new faces.
Your take on it would have been interesting had they then built a strong and lasting coalition that ended corruption. They did not. It dwindled away and is rarely even heard of.