The Start Of The American Industrial Revolution By Samuel Slater

During the 18th century, Great Britain had long been considered the world leader in the producing and transporting of manufactured goods. The country had worked hard to keep their technological advances a secret from the rest of the world, but that was soon to change with the arrival of Samuel Slater. The start of the American Industrial Revolution is often attributed to Slater, who opened the first industrial mill in Massachusetts in 1790, with a design borrowed heavily from a British model (ushistory.org). The mills he designed were basically warehouses/factories that were powered by water, and allowed for workers to utilize machines that would enable increased production of textiles. The multiple inventions during the First Industrial Revolution were not limited to textile production in America, they transformed routes of communication and transportation, expanded growth to agricultural areas in the south and urbanized cities in the north. Agriculturally, the south was vastly enhanced with the development of several inventions including that of iron plows, mechanical seeders and reapers, and the cotton gin. The development of iron plows,

Which in turn led to fundamental changes in the production, sale, and consumption of agricultural products and manufactured goods (Tindall & Shi, 379). Transportation was improved through the development of new roads, canal expansion, steamboats and a railway system. The development and subsequent application of steam power was undoubtedly the greatest technical achievement of the Industrial Revolution (yale.edu).The availability of transportation and demand for goods and services, also called for technological improvements in communication and resulted in the creation of the horseback postal service and infamous telegraph