Different opinions exist among historians regarding the extent of antisemitism in American history and how American antisemitism contrasted with its European counterpart. In contrast to the horrors of European history, John Higham states that in the United States "no decisive event, no deep crisis, no powerful social movement, no great individual is associated primarily with, or significant chiefly because of anti-Semitism." Accordingly, David A. Gerber concludes that antisemitism "has been a distinctly minor feature of the nation's historical development." On the other hand, no period of Jewish history in the United States was completely free from antisemitism.The first governmental incident of anti-Jewish action came during the American Civil War, when General Ulysses S. Grant issued General Order No. 11 (1862) to expel Jews from the portions of Tennessee, Kentucky and Mississippi. The order was quickly rescinded by President Lincoln.
From the 1870s to the 1940s, Jews were routinely discriminated against and barred from working in some fields of employment, barred from residing certain properties, not accepted as members by...