Article: Rhode Island System of Labor

RHODE ISLAND SYSTEM OF LABOR


The Rhode Island system of labor was initiated by English-born mechanist and businessman Samuel Slater (1768 1835), who built a water-powered cotton-spinning mill at Pawtucket, Rhode Island, in 1790. The machine, based on a mill invented by Englishman Richard Arkwright (1732 1792), was an immediate and unqualified success introducing mechanization to manufacturing, which was previously done by hand. A few years after starting his mill, Slater began hiring whole families from the surrounding area, including children, to work the spinning machines. Child labor had long been used in Britain's textile factories and Slater himself had worked ...

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