General Grant, commander of the Northern Army in the Civil War, expelled Tennessee Jews and the region • Why did he do so, how did President Lincoln respond, and how did Grant treat Jews when he became president himself?

• Ulysses S. Grant

Anti-Semitism in the stronghold of human rights: The North in the American Civil War is fighting for freedom and human rights in the United States, but it turns out that even those who fought slavery were not immune to anti-Semitism and racism.

General Ulysses S. Grant, commander of the Northern Forces in the war and one of the heroes of the Civil War, issued a decree of deportation to Tennessee Jews and surrounding Jews on December 17, 1862, today (Tuesday) - following what can only be described as blood libel.

Grant regarded the Jews as responsible for the illegal cotton trade with the rebellious southern states, and decided to expel them. This, although of course the merchants were not all Jews, and not all Jews were engaged in trade. "The Jews as a status violating all the trade regulations laid down by the Treasury and the county ordinance are deported from the area within twenty-four hours of receiving the order," the decree states, "Army commanders will oversee all of these people's status and receive leave permits.

"If any of them return after this post, they will be banned and held in prison until they have the opportunity to be sent out as a prisoner. Unless there is a license from the headquarters. No additional licenses will be given to these people who will want to visit the headquarters to apply for trade licenses," Grant signed. However, and unlike Europe, American Jewry enjoyed freedom and constitutional protections, calling on then-US President Abraham Lincoln to demand that the order be revoked.

In a letter sent by area Jews to Lincoln, they wrote "Decree No. 11 of the General Regulations, issued by General Grant at Oxford Missouri, instructing all commanders of the Guard to deport within 24 hours all Jews, within the jurisdiction of the District of Judgment. The undersigned, good citizens and trustees engaged in commerce. Legally, deeply hurt and insulted by this inhuman order, which would be a blasphemy of the Constitution, not yet of our rights and introduced us to many other Jews as criminals we seek ... your immediate attention to this vicious violation of law and humanity. "

Following the letter, Lincoln canceled the order and authorized Jews who were deported from the area to return to their homes. Grant himself was elected three years after the end of the Civil War and six years after the publication of the US Presidential Decree, and considered a friendly president of the Jewish community in the United States. Grant appointed many Jews to his government, condemned vulnerability to Jews in Europe and was even the first American president to participate in the inauguration of a synagogue.