Samuel Slater (June 9, 1768 – April 21, 1835) was a prominent early American industrialist who is often referred to as the father of both the American Industrial Revolution and the American Factory System The son of a yeoman farmer, Slater grew up in Derbyshire, England and developed a fascination with all things business at a young age. His precocious business savvy landed him an apprenticeship as a manager in a cotton mill, and he swiftly rose to the position of superintendent.

During his eight year tenure as superintendent of the cotton mill, Slater absorbed all of the information about the technologically advanced mill machines designed by the brilliant inventor Richard Arkwright (who is also famous for introducing the use of water power to drive machines and inventing an early version of the assembly line). By 1789, Slater had reached the conclusion that there wasn’t much room for growth in the saturated British textile market, and he decided to test his fortune in the New World. He (rightly) believed that he could make his fortune by bringing advanced British technologies to the fledgling textile industry in America.

However, in order to accomplish his goal, he had to break British law and immigrate to the United States in secret. At that time, it was illegal for textile workers in England to share technological information or even leave the country. When Slater arrived on American soil in late 1789, he had memorized every detail of Arkwright’s cutting-edge machines. While Slater was not the first British textile worker to think of this idea, he was the first one who knew how to build and operate Arkwright’s complicated machines. Thus, in 1793, Slater built the first successful water powered textile mill in Pawtucket, Rhode Island in 1793. By the time other companies attempted to nudge their way into the textile industry, Slater’s organizational methods had become the gold standard in the field.

However, Slater’s highly efficient and profitable methods had a dark side. Slater liked to enlist entire families, including very young children, to work in his mills and exercised an almost godlike control over the lives of his employees. He insisted that his workers live in company owned housing next to the mills, demanded that they shop exclusively at company stores and most damningly, mandated that they attend company schools and churches. While working conditions have significantly improved for factory workers since Slater’s time, vestiges of his iron fisted organizational system still exist in many coal mining and mill towns in Appalachia, where factory owners continue to exert tremendous power over the lives of their workers. Thus, it should come as no surprise that Appalachia has the highest illiteracy rate and is the poorest region in the United States.

What Do You Think? »

       

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.