A Brief History
On December 17, 1862, the stormy history of civil rights in United States was once again shamefully marred when Major General Ulysses S. Grant, future President of the United States, issued his infamous General Order No. 11 which expelled all Jews from Tennessee, Kentucky and Mississippi, the states in the military district he commanded.
Digging Deeper
It seems the smuggling and black marketing common to most war zones was grating on Grants nerves, and like so many people before and after him, he figured the Jews were to blame. Besides being responsible to win the war militarily, Grant was also responsible for all trade and commerce within the territories he controlled.
Not sure if they were going to be expelled as well, some Jewish officers voluntarily resigned. Irate members of the Jewish community made sure that word quickly got to Washington, and an outraged President Lincoln had the order was rescinded just a few weeks after it had been issued.
Later, when Grant became a politician and ran for the Presidency, the issue of his blatantly discriminatory order was brought up again. Like any good politician he deflected blame; in his case, he claimed that a subordinate had drafted the order and that he had signed it without reading it.
Although this explanation still makes Grant seem like a slipshod administrator, the fact that he had written a letter to the Assistant Secretary of War explaining his reasons for issuing the order certainly makes it seem like an intentional act. Apparently, “Expulsion-Gate,” as the incident might have been called today, was not enough to ruin a political career back then, as Grant was elected and then reelected President. Surprisingly, Grant captured a majority of the Jewish vote!
History and Headlines Epilogue: In 1874, Grant became the first U.S. President to attend a religious service in a Jewish Synagogue when he was present for the dedication of the Adas Israel Congregation in the capital. It might have been an effort on his part to atone for his poorly considered order a dozen years previously.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Sarna, Jonathan D. When General Grant Expelled the Jews (Jewish Encounters Series). Schocken, 2012.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="6965 http://www.crackedhistory.com/?p=6965">125 Comments
I cannot imagine what it would have been like to be a Jew in those times of oppression, but I admire Grant. Obviously, he did something honorable or right in their eyes and gained the majority of the Jewish vote.
I do not understand how Grant was able to obtain a large portion of the Jewish vote after detriment he had caused to Jewish people during the time. Grant then deflected accountability of the situation by claiming he wasn’t aware of what he signed
I did not know any of this. It was interesting to read.
AM
I had no idea the Jews were expelled from certain states because Grant didn’t want them in the military district he commanded.
I wonder why everyone’s first instinct is to blame the Jews? Very weird that he can kick a group out of his jurisdiction, and then years later they support him for President. This is a very odd scenario all in all.
N.W.
I had never heard of Grant’s orders. Israel is a nation that we support and is an ally. GW
More stories of religion being a huge issue. So sad that such a good thing in theory can cause so many issues. The Jews have been through so much of the years.
Religion is such a major issue in most of the United States history, when in reality, it should not be an issue at all. We should accepted that people have their own views and allow them to do what they do. We have no right to force anything on religion
why is it that when ever something goes wrong in history it is either the Jews or the African Americans that are the ones being blamed in history.
Something such as religion should never be Problem in America I know it was long in the past but most
of the first settlers wanted religion freedom and over time it seems the whole
country abandoned that view.
I think it’s interesting how history repeats itself.
Wow, I had no idea Grant used the Jewish as a scapegoat. Quite, ironic he seemed to capture a large Jewish vote.
i didnt know that jews werent allowed in certain areas bevause grant didnt want them there
I’m surprised that Grant was able to win the presidential
election and gain reelection including the majority of the Jewish vote after
trying to expel them from U.S. territory.
I think it was wrong for him to expel Jews from U.S. territory.
I seriously never knew about this. It’s scary to think about how much some people might not know about important political figures of America. I wonder how the Jews felt about Grant being in one of their synagogues after that.
I find it interesting that Grant’s actions were so quickly forgiven and seemingly forgotten about over the years. How and why was this attack against the Jews in the United States deemed unimportant once resolved?
I didn’t know that Grant had control over trading in those three states.
I never knew that Grant expelled Jews from Tennessee, Mississippi, and Kentucky. I am shocked that he got the majority of Jewish votes to become President.
I am surprised that many Jews were afraid enough of Grant’s power that they resigned from officer positions. I am also surprised that he was still trusted by the people as President when he had said he signed a serious document without even reading it.
This is an interesting article. I find it very surprising that he was able to capture most of the Jewish vote after all that took place.
I am surprised that the Jews voted for him. I do not think that it was right for him to expel the Jews from his district.
This is something I learned new. I guess it was okay for him to attend a Jewish religious service. Maybe it was a way for him to ask for forgiveness with the choices he made years ago. And earn his trust with them again.
Interesting, I don’t remember my high school U.S. history teacher mentioning this about Grant at all. My teacher only emphasized how great a general he was.
I thought it was very interesting because i never knew that Jews were expelled from certain states such as Kentucky etc.
I didn’t realize Jews were expelled from different states. I thought they came to the U.S. as a “safe haven” from Germany.
I like how the in man in the video says we don’t treat people as a “class,” we treat them as individuals.
That is awesome article. i was surprised to learn that Grant blamed the black marketing on only Jewish people.
There should a policy to protect religions or other beliefs “doctrine” I like the last part of the video when he talked about how treating people as individuals. How the Grant won the election while he didn’t treat jews in appropriate way + they vote for him!
I was rather surprised the Jews voted for him. Also I only remember hearing good things about Grant, never anything negative.
I never knew that Grant expelled Jews from these three states: Tennessee, Mississippi, and Kentucky. I have never learned about this in any of my history classes. This is very interesting.
I did not know that jews were expelled from certain states in the U.S, I can’t believe that could take place in the states.
Apart from being a general and president, I have never really heard anything to do with Grant. I definitely never heard of him trying to expel the Jews, and yet they still voted for him to be president. That is kind of amazing.
This stuff makes you wonder what goes on behind the scenes today. This stuff is quite shocking.
This article shows how we don’t always get the full story when if comes to most presidents. I know I had never learned about Grant wanting to expel the Jewish community
I find in funny that he blamed the Jews and then turned around during elections to attend a Jewish Synagogue.
I see that politics hasn’t really changed much. People will say one thing to get elected then do another.
I thought only the Germans blamed the Jews for stuff but apparently Americans did as well, you learn something new evberyday
I still don’t understand why the Jews aways seem to be a scapegoat when something goes wrong.
I have never heard of Grant’s dislike for the Jews until this article. It is interesting what we are not taught in middle/high school… However, it was nice to hear that he was the first U.S. President to attend a religious service in a Jewish Synagogue.
It is sad to see how much the Jewish community has been through throughout history. Also, I wish more politicians today were as honest with the nation as Grant was and were brave enough to admit to mistakes they make. I wonder if that would make the political systems today more efficient.
This is yet another example of how historical figures sometimes get glorified and we don’t always know the whole story. Like Mikayla, I had never heard of Grant’s discrimination against the Jewish people. I think that because he was a United States President and a decorated Union general that people have forgotten that he’s not perfect.
As others have pointed out, I too had not known that President Grant did not like the Jewish community. It is sad to think that people then and still are discriminated against based on their religious views. I am surprised he still won the Jewish majority vote.
I really don’t understand why the Jewish were so disliked in the past. I’m sure there’s more research on why this is but it just makes no sense to me now. It’s unfortunate that a man who became our president issued such a discriminatory order against the Jewish people in his territory’s. I guess you can compare grants prejudices to those of presidential candidate Donald trump who dislikes basically all immigrants but especially Muslim immigrants.
I think the hatred of Jews originated from the Germans and Hitler. Grant got lucky when he ran for president that the Jewish community believed Grant when he said it was not him who bashed the Jews and it was his Assistant Secretary. The votes that Grant received from the Jews could of single handily won him the election not once but twice.
Once again President Lincoln making strides towards equality! It seems that most politicians have a couple blunders throughout their career that they either deny or spin in a way to use it for their favor. President Grant was lucky he was able to capture Jewish votes even after making the decision to force them out of his territory his troops patrolled.
Lincoln made the right decision by rescinding Grant’s order to expel the Jews from the states he controlled. I’m surprised that when Grant ran for the presidency he gained the majority of the Jewish vote. Obviously Grant attended a service at the synagogue in order to make up for his mistake.
Interesting because you don’t hear about much antisemitism in American History classes growing up. I never knew this side of history.
I found that very interesting too! I didn’t expect to hear much about antisemitism in American History, nor in this passage.
I am very surprised to learn of antisemitism within U.S. government this far back in presidencies. Grant clearly made it up to the Jewish population as he gained the majority vote.
I found it interesting that Ulysses S. Grant issued his infamous general order no.11 which expelled all jews from tennessee, kentucky, and mississippi and won the election with the majority votes from the jewish.
I think it is very weird how Grant forced the Jews out of certain areas but then when he ran for president he got a lot of votes from the Jews!
it is very interesting to see that politicians,like grant, have not changed over all these years. In the sense that they are always somehow caught with their foot in their mouth,but manage to deflect the blame.
I never knew how much of an impact that Grant had on the war. I was especially shocked in the opening paragraph when they talked about how he outlawed Jews! I also thought it was interesting that shockingly once he became president to attend a Jewish service.
Typical that Generals or men with power will blame others for their mistakes but take all the credit in their victories
I had no idea that such blatant discrimination against the Jews occurred during this time period in United States history. I am even more shocked that the people victim to the discrimination voted for a man that issued an order of that nature just years before.
It is shocking that discrimination against the Jews was even a issue with all the other things going on in that time period. And it is also shocking that those who were discriminated against would vote for him in the future.
I think it was a very interesting that after Grant had forced the Jews out of Kentucky Tennessee and Mississippi he still ended up with the majority of jewish votes
It was very interesting that Grant would issue such an order in this time period with everything else that was going on. What is even more surprising is that the Jews would then vote for him when he ran for President.
i would have never known that there were issues within the Jewish community in those territories let alone see those issues to be grounds for Grant to expel them from the area. He blamed them for something that any single one person, Jewish or not, could have been responsible for or contributed towards.
In psychology class, we talked about how people will often blame others to avoid taking any responsibility for a problem like Hitler did with the Jews. I had no idea that Grant did as well, and then to get the majority of the Jewish vote is just crazy!
I found Abraham Lincoln interesting every time I read about him. Also I like the way when Abraham Lincoln says ” we don’t treat people like a class we treat them as individuals” he was the good politician we don’t see like him anymore
I can’t believe a president would ship out a group of people and then not own up to it because they were afraid of losing votes for an election!
This is something that although taking American History in high school, I have never heard about. It really shocked me how much of an extent he went to just to get votes.
i never knew that something like this has ever happened in U.S history. this is discrimination.
Political scandals and how the public views them have changed a lot over time.
Politicians have not changed over the years. They all want power and use things like discrimination and lies to get there.
Lies, lies, and more lies to get to the top of the power “food chain”? It seems that the way political figures work hasn’t changed over time.
Grant didn’t like Jews he blamed them for all the problems.
I found it very odd that he was the first president to attend and the majority of Jews voted for them when at one point of time he had them “expelled”
I still don’t know how he got all the Jewish votes after what took place. Very surprising.
This article shows exactly how Antisemitism has been a problem throughout history. Even some of the great leaders of the United States had Antisemitic beliefs. It’s a truly terrible thing.
I think this article really shows how politicians worked back then and still today, willing to stretch the truth and come up with excuses to get the votes they need and America just follows and listens to the lies that they put out.
I found it very contradictory that he spoke so negative of the Jews, as far as to say that they should be expelled but yet a majority of the people who voted for him were actually Jews.
I personally do not understand why Grant would put his signature on something that he never read in the first place. He simply set himself up for his upcoming potential voters to automatically mistrust him. -Allison Lester
I would like to believe that most politicians are good people that want what is best for the average United States citizen no matter what age, gender or race they are. I am disappointed when they do not represent each person properly. I still believe that most politicians are good and honest people.
It’s surprsing to see the extent someone will go to get votes and then not own up to what they did.
really shows how corrupt our government has been since the beginning. i hope things will change one day
Discriminating against the Jews reminds me of the holocaust and sad to think that we started expelling them before anyone else.
Sad that people can agree to putting the blame on one group of people when it wasn’t just the Jews doing illegal things
At least he attempted to atone for what he had done to the Jewish people.
It is ironic that he had the Jews majority vote even though for what he had done before.
The Jewish culture has been isolated for as long as history has been alive– it seems like. In school we learn about other countries, including Germany and the awful treatment that Jews received, but we never learn about the cruel treatment this country has put them through. In fact, this is all news to me… very interesting. It’s also ironic that all of this took place in 1862, yet when World War ll took place, the United States was there to defend and protect Germany and the Jews.
I had no clue that our country first started discriminating against the jews, we always learned about Germany but that was it. It is very strange how we were never told this. It also makes me wonder if things in Germnay would have been different if we didn’t discriminate against the jews first.
It was interesting to me to see a part of history that we never really hear about throughout out lives. We hear about the persecution of the jewish people throughout many parts of history, but never this way. It is incredible to see that we sometimes we over look things or treat them as if they did not happen just because they happened here in America.
This is very interesting because I have never heard of any American president trying to ban jews from our country. Once again history relives itself.
I didn’t like this article because why the president going to be expelled jews.
It is crazy to see how much e Jewish people have gone through over time. I also was very surprised to read how a majority of the Jewish population actually voted for Grant.
I’ve never knew of grant disliking the jewish population until reading this article.
Pretty sad, racism wasn’t just against African Americans at that time.
It is shocking to me that so many great leaders, including Gran, can have such strong discriminatory beliefs and lead on a national scale.
Grant*
Wow! I was really surprised by this blatant attempt to discriminate against the Jewish people in America. I don’t remember learning this but am happy that good old Abe Lincoln stepped in to rectify Grants attempt at expelling the Jewish people.
I am shocked even so many years between that event President Grant still was atoning for what he did a dozen years prior.
This was an unjust act against the Jewish people. Unsound morals and poor decision making does not occur in one particular group of individuals. I can not believe the Jewish backing her received for his candidacy.
I agree this was unjust, and I am shocked as well that Grant was elected president when this was one of his previous movements.
I had no idea that Grant expelled Jews from certain states, I thought that was only going on in Germany during WWII. I do not understand how they can stereotype a group of people thinking they are the cause of everyone’s problems. I am curious as to how he got votes from Jews and what his campaign was like to receive their votes.
I think that it is interesting that Grant attended a Jewish synagogue after an unjust act toward these people. It really speaks low of his character and shows that he does not have much remorse for being harsh.
I have never heard of this before, and was shocked to read this. Whenever I have seen or read things about Grant I felt like they were positive, and never mentioned this. It almost seems silly to me how in the past people were so easy to blame a religion, a culture, or a race for societies mistakes. It still happens today, and it is frustrating.
I have never heard about this side of Grant. I have never heard about Grant expelling Jews in any state. I still find it interesting that Grant had a majority of the Jewish vote when he was elected even after all of this had happened.
I had no idea that Grant expelled Jews in some states. I did not think that there was much of an issue with the Jews in the United States as I thought it was all in Germany. I also find it quite surprising that Grant attended a Jewish Synagogue after he expelled the Jews and he received the majority of their vote for President.
There is an old saying that says “If we do not learn from history, history is bound to repeat itself”. Maybe people need reminded of this today.
I have never heard this story before about Order No. 11. Grant was misguided and I believe he tried to apologize in his own way. The Jewish people must be forgiving since Grant received a majority of their vote when he ran for president.
I had never heard of this before, and I had no idea that Grant had expelled the Jews from those states. I think that this is an important article especially with the election coming up and how one of the candidates wants to deport all the foreigners
It was interesting to see that politics have not changed much since the late 1800s. When Grant ran for President and his past actions were brought up he denied his association with the discriminatory order and blamed it on someone else.
I have no idea about how sad as a Jewish people. And I have never heard about Grant expelled the Jews because I am not familiar with the US history.
Everyone is equal, it includes Jewish people. Although the history has something we don’t like them, we should remember these historical factors and avoid to make the same mistakes.
This article is a prime example that the exclusion of Jewish people goes past just WWII. I like that Grant was the first president to attend a Jewish service to show that all people are equal, even when it comes to religion.
This article just proves that politics and politicians haven’t changed much, at least in my opinion. Grant made a discriminatory decision by expelling the Jews and it came back to haunt him when running for president. I had never heard of this event in history before reading this article.
I have also never heard of this event before. This article angered me. I hate to know that the discrimination of Jews goes past just the history of the Holocaust/Nazi Germany. I think it’s also funny to see how politicians back then were as crooked as they can be now.
To this day, it is still appalling how people can be discriminated so much as to be expelled from a country or even treated differently in the first place. I have never heard of this event before reading this article. Grant’s decision sounds familiar to those of the politicians running for president in today’s election. People say that history repeats itself and I really hope that doesn’t come true and we can have an opportunity to better our country.
The United States has exiled many groups of people which is terrible including Native Americans which is group of people we talked about in another article. I was unaware that the United States did that to Jewish people as well, however I’m gladd Abraham was furious and got rid of it right away.
I feel like this was a poor decision on Grant’s part, however, throughout history groups of people have been singled out and segregated for reason that are not their doing. The Jewish people have been pushed around since the before they occupied Israel. They seem to be an easy target for no apparent reason.
I never realized that the Jewish people were segregated in America. I find it interesting that he still received many Jewish votes for his next presidency. America was supposed to be the place of freedom and it is sad so many people were mistreated.
I have never learned this about Grant, but I should have. It is sad that so much segregation has happened in America. It is odd that Grant could push Jews out of certain states, but still get a majority of Jewish votes for his presidency.
I didn’t know this about Grant! Very interesting but sad due to the segregation in America!
This is something I did not know about Grant! Even though he says he signed it without reading it, it still opens eyes that that would even happen.
I have never heard about this. It also amazes me that the politicians then were just as crooked as they are now.
It’s always sad to see how racism is a constant threat in this country, at all time periods.
It’s extremely interesting that this did not ruin President Grant’s political career. If something of this nature was done today it would blow up and consume social media and mass media networks for days. It shows how much media has affected our nation and our view points.
On a totally irrelevant tangent, the first thought that came to my mind when reading this (after sifting through thoughts of ignorance and discrimination) was that Grant may have been the first person to “agree to the terms and conditions” without actually reading through the fine print!
As many on here, this is act by U.S. Grant was new to hear for myself. Of course during this time there was a lot of segregation and hatred for other races and religions going around. I would like to say on a positive note though, U.S Grant realized his ignorance and moved on in a positive manner when it came to his actions. Publicly apologizing for his actions and even showed the people that he once tried to banish that he supports their ways by hiring many for political positions, and attending their services.
I had no idea that Grant had ever expelled Jews from several U.S Territories. I’m curious as to why Grant believed that the Jews had anything to do with the problem, and I was surprised to find out that he won the election, and that he won a majority of the Jewish vote! I was glad, however, to read that he was the first president to attend a religious service in a Jewish Synagogue.
Interesting that he captured much of the Jewish vote.
I think this article is very interesting to say the least. I think he was a pretty sketchy guy after reading this piece.