He memorized the textile factory machinery designs as an apprentice to a pioneer in the British industry before migrating to the U.S. at the age of 21.

He learned of the American interest in developing similar machines, and he was also aware of British law against exporting the designs.

Some people of Belper called him "Slater the Traitor", as they considered his move a betrayal of the town where many earned their living at Strutt's mills.

[1] Almy & Brown, as the company was to be called, was housed in a former fulling mill near the Pawtucket Falls of the Blackstone River.

They planned to manufacture cloth for sale, with yarn to be spun on spinning wheels, jennies, and frames, using water power.

Their deal provided Slater the funds to build the water frames and associated machinery, with a half share in their capital value and the profits derived from them.

[3] In 1812, Slater built the Old Green Mill, later known as Cranston Print Works, in East Village in Webster, Massachusetts.

[7] Slater created the Rhode Island System, which were factory practices based upon the closeknit family life patterns in New England villages.

In contrast to England, where he had hired women and children, Slater recruited whole families, developing entire tenant farms and villages.

[8] He provided company-owned housing nearby, along with company stores; he sponsored a Sunday School where college students taught the children reading and writing.

There was a dramatic expansion of cotton cultivation throughout the Deep South in the antebellum years, especially after the 1830s Indian Removal that forced most of the Five Civilized Tribes to resettle west of the Mississippi River.

John was a wheelwright who had spent time studying the latest English developments and might well have gained experience of the spinning mule.

His son Horatio Nelson Slater completely reorganized the family business, introduced cost-cutting measures, and giving up old-fashioned procedures.

By 1810, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin reported that the U.S. had some 50 cotton-yarn mills, many of them started in response to the Embargo of 1807, which cut off imports and trade with Britain before the War of 1812.

As his business was extremely successful by this time, and as Parkinson also owned the property before their marriage, the couple arranged for a pre-nuptial agreement.

Slater's original mill in Pawtucket and the town of Slatersville are both parts of the Blackstone River Valley National Historical Park, which was created to preserve and interpret the history of the industrial development of the region.

[18] Samuel Slater Experience, a history museum dedicated to his life and legacy located in Webster, Massachusetts, opened in March 2022.