General Order 11: When Lincoln freed the Jews



  Lincoln   (1869 Painting by Healy)

Just a few weeks before signing the Emancipation Proclamation, Abraham Lincoln had a different type of oppression to contend with.

On December 17, 1862, Lincoln’s then Major-General Ulysses S. Grant had signed General Order 11.  This document ordered the expulsion of all Jews from Grant’s military district, which at the time covered much of Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee.  This was Grant’s knee-jerk response to a very real Union dilemma, i.e. the flourishing black-market in Southern cotton.

Granted, it’s intense enough to have to plan the capture of Vicksburg without having to also worry about illegal cotton trading.  Scapegoating is particularly tempting at times like these, especially when prior prejudices exist.  Grant echoed centuries of anti-Semitism when he blanketly claimed that Jews were “such an intolerable nuisance that the department must be purged of them.”

Grant then insisted:  The Israelites especially should be kept out.  Fortunately for these Jews, Grant was not yet president, and Abraham Lincoln still was.

It didn’t take long for word to get back to Washington about this nasty state of affairs.  A telegram concerning “this grossest violation of the Constitution and our rights as good citizens under it” was sent to Lincoln by a Jewish group from Kentucky.  They described General Order 11 as an “enormous outrage on all law and humanity…”  The media then got a hold of it, and the rest is…  history.

The leader of this Jewish group of protesters, Cesar J. Kaskel, wound up personally visiting with Lincoln at the White House.  Shortly thereafter, General Order 11 was rescinded.  Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise of Ohio journeyed to Washington in order to personally thank Lincoln.  Wikipedia reports that Lincoln responded:  To condemn a class is, to say the least, to wrong the good with the bad.

Lincoln then reportedly added that no American should be wronged because of a religious affiliation.  Because of his strong adherence to this ethical principle, Lincoln was able to free these Jews from the oppressiveness of General Order 11.

As president, Grant later followed in Lincoln’s ethical footsteps.  He made a point of reversing the prejudicial

stance he had taken earlier on.  In fact, Grant became the first U. S. president to officially attend a synagogue

service.  He and his entire cabinet attended the 1876 dedication ceremony of the Adas Israel Congregation’s

first permanent house of worship.

Resources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Order_No._11_(1862)

http://www.jpost.com/Features/InThespotlight/Article.aspx?id=199853

http://www.adasisrael.org/template.php?section=AU

Copyright February 12, 2011 by Linda Van Slyke   All Rights Reserved