GHETTO 



Treaty of Ghent, the treaty which ended the 

 War of 1812 between Great Britain and the 

 United States. It was signed December 24, 

 1814, and ratified February 17, 1815. The 

 American negotiators were John Quincy Adams, 

 James A. Bagard, Henry Clay, Jonathan Rus- 

 sell and Albert Gallatin. The terms of the 

 treaty restored all territory to its ownership 

 previous to the war, appointed a commission 

 to settle matters relating to the international 

 boundary and bound both America and Eng- 

 land to use their utmost influence to stamp 

 out slavery. Many points which afterwards 

 caused friction were overlooked, and it was 

 generally felt that the United States negotia- 

 tors had not strongly insisted on a cessation 

 of impressment of American seamen, one of 

 the chief causes of the war. However, that 

 issue never again appeared in the relations of 

 the two countries. The rights of Americans 

 to participate in the Newfoundland fisheries 

 were also overlooked . These matters were 

 settled by subsequent negotiation. F.ST.A. 



GHETTO, get' ' o, the Jewish quarter "of a 

 large city. The word is probably derived from 

 the Talmudic word ghet, signifying separation. 

 In the Middle Ages the Jews' quarter of a 

 large town was known as the Ghetto, outside 

 of which they were not permitted to take up 

 residence. The name now has no legal sig- 

 nificance, but is popularly applied to the sec- 

 tion of a large city occupied of their own 

 choice by Jews of the poorer classes. The 

 largest and most densely-populated Ghetto 

 in the world is located on the "East Side" in 

 New York City, where a single city block con- 

 tains 3,000 to 5,000 population. Six hundred 

 persons are often housed in one tenement 

 building, the majority of them being employed 

 in sweatshops (see SWEATSHOP SYSTEM). The 

 population of the New York Ghetto is esti- 

 mated at 350,000. 



The Ghetto originated in Rome, instituted 

 by Pope Paul IV. He allotted the Jews a dis- 

 tinct quarter, comprising a few narrow, un- 

 healthful streets on the banks of the Tiber 

 River, and extending from the bridge, Quattro 

 Capi, to the present Place of Tears. Walls 

 and gates that could be guarded enclosed the 

 "Jews' Suburb." On the twenty-sixth of July, 

 1556, the Jews entered the Ghetto, weeping 

 and wailing, like their ancestors when taken 

 into the Captivity. In the eighteenth century 

 Innocent XIII decreed that the Jews should 

 have no other trade or profession than in rags, 

 old clothes and broken iron, which was called 



GHIRLANDAJO 



stracci jeracci. In 1740 Benedict XIV permit- 

 ted them to add to this the trade in new cloth 

 wares, which in Rome they carry on to the 

 present day. Pius IX was more liberal than 

 his predecessors, for he ordered the walls of 

 the Ghetto pulled down, and the Jews are now 

 at liberty to reside where they please in Rome. 

 The Ghetto of London has been presented in 

 fiction by Zangwill in his Children oj the 

 Ghetto and the New York East Side life has 

 been depicted in the works of Henry Harland, 

 Abraham Cahan and Hutchins Hapgood. 



Consult Hapgood's Spirit of the Ghetto; Philip- 

 son's Old European Jewries. 



GHIBELLINES, gib'ellinz. See GUELPHS 

 AND GHIBELLINES. 



GHIBERTI, gebair'te, LORENZO (1378-1455), 

 ranks highest with Donatello, his friend, among 

 the grand Italian sculptors and goldsmiths of 

 the Renaissance. His art has been perpetu- 

 ated by his bronze gates for the baptistery of 

 Florence, which in beauty of ornamentation 

 and perfection of form and finish in every 

 detail have never been equaled. They are 

 counted among the finest works of art in Italy, 

 and far surpass anything of the kind attempted 

 since the days of the ancient Greeks. They 

 must still have shone with all the brightness 

 of their original gilding, when, a century later, 

 Michelangelo pronounced them "worthy to be 

 the gates of Paradise." The first gate, upon 

 which Ghiberti was engaged for twenty years, 

 consists of twenty-eight panels, representing 

 incidents in the lives of Christ, the fathers of 

 the Church, and the Evangelists. So greatly 

 was this admired that the artist received the 

 order for a second gate, which took as much 

 time to complete; the subjects this time were 

 taken from the Old Testament. 



Next to the gates for the baptistery, Ghi- 

 berti's chief works still in existence are his 

 three statues of Saint John the Baptist, Saint 

 Matthew and Saint Stephen. In the church 

 of San Michele, at Florence, are to be found 

 bas-reliefs, statues and some excellent painted 

 glass windows. He also is famed as an archi- 

 tect, but his skill as a sculptor and goldsmith 

 far eclipsed his other attainments. Ghiberti 

 died at the age of seventy-seven in his native 

 city, Florence. 



GHIRLANDAJO, geer lahn dah'yo, DOMENICO 

 DEL (1449-1495), occupies a prominent place 

 among the Florentine painters of the Renais- 

 sance. Not until the age of thirty-one did he 

 begin his life work, and in a brief period of 

 fourteen years he became one of the most 



