Who Is Samuel Slater An Important Figure In American History?

482 Words2 Pages

“Come and have the credit as well as the opportunity.”- Samuel Slater
Samuel invented a water powered mill. This wasn’t easy at the time so he had to convince people that his invention would work. He also tried to convince people to work in his mill and help out. Samuel Slater was known for many things. So Samuel Slater was an important figure in American history because he was The Father Of The American Industrial Revolution.

Slater was born on June 9 1768, in Berpil, Derbyshire, England. Slater was the fifth born son of a family of eight. He had a basic education in a school run by a teacher. Samuel started working in a cotton mill run by Jedediah Strutt at the age of fourteen. Samuel’s father has passed away in 1782 and as a result of that Samuel became Strutt’s apprentice.

Strutt had taught Samuel about the mill, so by the age of 21 Samuel had a great understanding of how to run a cotton mill. Samuel has learned both American exporting designs. Samuel headed to New York in 1789 with all the knowledge that he could memorize. Since he went into america using the british ways people would call him “Samuel the Traitor” …show more content…

He built his first mill in 1790 on the Blackstone River in Rhode Island. This was one of the first factories built in the united states. A couple years later he built ‘Slater Mill.’ It was the first american factory to successfully produce cotton yarn with water-powered machines. Although Slater’s factory was the first to successfully produce cotton yarn with water-powered machines, it was difficult. There were many complications at first. The machines had problems with making good quality raw cotton, and the machines often broke down. The machines were also too slow in producing enough cotton for the demanding