 Rothschilds had been small-scale peddlers, and Mayer Amschel himself had been a moderately successful retailer, a dealer in bills of exchange as well as a more traditional court Jew.When Mayer Amschel died in 1812 he was a fully enfranchised citizen of Frankfurt.The walls of the ghetto had come down and he had laid the groundwork for the rise of his family to world renown.