As Western Europe began industrializing in the late 1700s and early 1800s, the United States remained agrarian in nature with resource processing, such as gristmills and sawmills being its major semi-industrial pursuit,[3] however, as demand for U.S. resources increased, canals and railroads became extremely important to economic growth due to sparse population[4] particularly in areas where resources were rich such as in the Western frontier. This made it necessary for the U.S. to expand its technological capabilities, which led to an Industrial Revolution reaching American shores as entrepreneurs competed and learned from each other to develop better technology, fundamentally and permanently altering the U.S. economy, thrusting it into the new age of industrialization.
The "Father of the American Industrial Revolution",[5] Samuel Slater, was born in Belper, Derbyshire, England on June 9, 1768, and began working at a cotton mill from age 10. He learned that Americans were interested in the Industrial Revolution's new techniques, but since exporting such designs were illegal in England, he memorized as much as he could and departed for New York in 1789 illegally. Moses Brown, a leading Rhode Island industrialist, attempted to operate a mill with a 32-spindle frame in Pawtucket, but he couldn't. It was at that time that Slater offered his services, promising to replicate British designs for Brown and, after an initial investment by Brown to Slater to fulfill initial requirements, the mill successfully opened in 1793 being the first water-powered roller spinning textile mill in the Americas. By 1800, Slater's mill had been duplicated by many other entrepreneurs as Slater grew wealthier and his techniques more and more popular, which brought him the name "Father of the American Industrial Revolution" by Andrew Jackson in the U.S., but also the name "Slater the Traitor" by many in Great Britain who felt he betrayed them to the Americans.
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