Apprenticed at age 12 to the manager of a textile mill, by age 16 Sam had learned the work, made many mechanical improvements, and become manager of a mill. At age 20, Sam had invented many more improvements and was manager of 3 mills.

Some time after this, Sam read in the paper that Moses Brown of Rhode Island in America was offering to support any one knowing about textile machinery. (This was the Quacker Moses Brown who left money to found Brown University.) Sam knew that British customs officials would confiscate any drawings or other plans, to prevent technology from escaping the country. But he had all this knowledge memorized.

When he arrived in Provinceton, R. I., Brown supplied Slater with a room and drawing equipment. Soon Slater had drawn plans which resulted in the creation of a textile mill, America's first industry.

Thus, Sam was The Founder of The American Industrial Revolution.

Slater also made anothe important contribution: founding the fist Sunday School in America/ This was to teach reading and calculation to laboring children, principally girls, on Sunday, their only day off. So the first Sunday School was a genuine school -- which it is no longer.