This Day In Founding Fathers History – 20 December

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This Day In Founding Fathers History – 20 December

On this day in 1790, America’s first cotton mill began operating in Pawtuket, Rhode Island. The mill was located on the banks of the Blackstone River and all the machinery was water-powered. English immigrant Samuel Slater built the mill based on the designs of Richard Arkwright, an English inventor, the partner of Jebediah Strutt, under whom Slater apprenticed. Slater left Britain against British law which forbade the emigration of textile workers. Slater went on to build more cotton mills throughout New England and established the town of Slatersville, Rhode Island. ₁

In 1803 on this day, the United States took formal possession of the Louisiana Territory. Negotiations began in April between the U.S. and France, and by the end of that month an agreement was reached, approximately 827,000 square miles of territory for $15 million. The purchase wasn’t officially announced in the U.S. until July, and the Senate ratified the purchase in October. ₂

_{1 The Library of Congress American Memory, Today in History: December 20, “First American Cotton Mill”
2 “The Louisiana Purchase,” www.monticello.org/site/jefferson/louisiana-purchase}

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