Only once since 1790, when newly elected President George Washington promised Jews that the new American nation would give “to bigotry no sanction,” has a prominent American official promulgated a discriminatory ruling explicitly targeting Jews.

While some details remain murky, the basic outline of the story is well known. On December 17, 1862 — early in the Civil War and six years before he would be elected our 18th president — General Ulysses S. Grant issued General Orders No. 11, stating: “The Jews, as a class violating every regulation of trade established by the Treasury Department and also department orders, are hereby expelled from the department [encompassing Tennessee, Kentucky and northern Mississippi] within twenty-four hours from the receipt of ...