<P> Slater created the "Rhode Island System," factory practices based upon the patterns of family life in New England villages . Children aged 7 to 12 were the first employees of the mill; Slater personally supervised them closely . The first child workers were hired in 1790 . From his experience in Milford, it is highly unlikely that Slater resorted to physical punishment of the children, relying instead on a system of fines . Slater tried to recruit workers from other villages, but that fell through due to the close - knit framework of the New England family . </P> <P> He brought in whole families, developing entire villages . He provided company - owned housing nearby, along with company stores; he sponsored a Sunday School where college students taught the children reading and writing . </P> <P> Slater constructed a new mill in 1793 for the sole purpose of textile manufacture under the name Almy, Brown & Slater, as he was now partners with Almy and Brown . It was a 72 - spindle mill; the patenting of Eli Whitney's cotton gin in 1794 reduced the labor in processing cotton . It also enabled profitable cultivation of short - staple cotton, which could be grown in the interior uplands, resulting in a dramatic expansion of cotton cultivation throughout the Deep South in the antebellum years . The New England mills and their labor force of free men depended on southern cotton, which was based on slave labor . Slater also brought the Sunday School system from his native England to his textile factory at Pawtucket . </P> <P> In 1798, Samuel Slater split from Almy and Brown, forming Samuel Slater & Company in partnership with his father - in - law Oziel Wilkinson . They developed other mills in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire . </P>

Built the first american textile mill in pawtucket rhode island