Pawtucket Times
Samuel Slater, Eli Whitney, textile industry
Samuel Slater invented mill machines to make make clothes and farming quicker and inexpensive. Samuel Slater is an immigrant to the United States. Samuel was looking to improve textile in the united states he sent a letter to Moses brown. Brown had one of his workers test Samuel's knowledge of machinery, and Samuel passed the test. Brown’s son, Smith Brown, and son-in-law,William Amy, decided to form a partnership with Samuel. They opened their first mill in pawtucket, Rhode Island, in 1793. It later became a success. Eli Whitney came up with idea of interchangeable parts. Using interchangeable parts meant that if something broken instead of replacing the whole part you just replace the part that is broken. Eli Whitney promised to build 10,000 muskets in two years. The federal government gave him money for a new shop. Later he got a call from Washington DC saying he had to go to give a demonstration. Eli Whitney had proven that inventors could improve the new british technology. At the beginning of 1700’s the majority of people in Europe and the united states were farmers. they made most of what they needed by hand. Female family members usually made clothing. They first used a spinning wheel to spin raw materials such as cotton or wool, into thread. Then they used a hand loom to weave the thread into cloth. In a couple of towns a few skilled workers made goods by hand to put in their own shops. These workers included blacksmiths,carpenters,and shoemakers.
lowell system.mills.changed lives,trade unions,
The lives of people changed with their jobs. Many mill owners could not find workers to work for them because a lot of other jobs were available. The workers got to do simple work like for an example their jobs might include feeding cotton into the machines and cleaning the mill equipment. They grew tired of this work and frequently left. James Horton ran away from slaters mills. Not all mill owner followed the lowell system. A businessman named Francis Cabot Lowell he is from new England, he developed a very different approach. Lowell constructed boarding houses residents were given a room and meals along with their jobs. With support from inventors of Boston Manufacturing company Lowell’s first textile mill opened in waltham, Manufacturing, in 1814. In 1822 the company built a larger mill in Massachusetts town later named lowell. Many young millworkers were known as lowell girls They got paid 2 dollars and 4 dollars each week. They got 1.25 for rooms and boards. The wages were much better than those womans could earn per week in other available jobs, such as domestic work. They work for about four years. Mill owners throughout the NorthEast copied slaters methods. Owners advertised with men with growing families wanted. They also sent recruiters to poor communities to find new workers. For many people the chance to work in a factory was a welcome opportunity to earn money. Slatersville was the earliest of the mill towns. It was named after slater. The town was built after slater and his brother john. In included two house for workers and their workers, the owners house, the slaterville mill and the company store. The mill was most modern industrial building of its time and the largest. Facing low wages and the fear of losing their jobs, skilled workers formed trade unions. Unskilled factory workers eventually formed trade unions. Most employers did not want to hire union workers. sometimes labor unions staged protests called strikes. Early strikes were not usually successful, but courts and police usually supported companies. Sarah G. Bagley was a strong voice in the union movement. She founded the Lowell female labor reform associations in 1844 and publicized the struggles of factory laborers. Members of the addiction passed out pamphlets and circulated petitions.