Slater Builds First Mill: American Industry Begins

Samuel Slater carried the secrets of British industrialization in his head and built America's first successful cotton mill from memory. On December 20, 1790, Slater's mill began operations in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, using water-powered machinery replicating the spinning technology of Richard Arkwright's English factories. British law made it a crime to export textile machinery or technical drawings, so Slater emigrated with nothing but his knowledge. Slater had apprenticed for six years under Jedediah Strutt, a partner of Arkwright and one of England's leading cotton manufacturers. He learned every aspect of the water-frame spinning system, from roller design to factory layout. At twenty-one, seeing an advertisement from American merchants seeking someone who could build Arkwright-style machinery, he decided to cross the Atlantic. Arriving in New York in 1789, Slater contacted Moses Brown, a wealthy Rhode Island merchant who had been attempting to mechanize cotton spinning. Brown had purchased crude spinning equipment, but no one in America knew how to operate it. Slater examined the machinery, declared it worthless, and offered to build new equipment from scratch. Working from memory with local craftsmen, Slater constructed a water-powered carding and spinning system beside the Blackstone River. The mill employed nine children between ages seven and twelve to tend the machines, establishing a pattern of child labor that would characterize American textile manufacturing for the next century. Slater's mill proved immediately profitable. Within a decade he owned multiple factories, and his system spread throughout New England. The technology transfer he accomplished launched the American Industrial Revolution, transforming the nation from an agricultural economy into a manufacturing power within two generations. The British called him "Slater the Traitor." Americans called him the Father of Manufacturing.