Slater, SLAY tuhr, Samuel (1768-1835), a British textile worker, founded the textile industry in the United States. Slater was born on June 9, 1768, in Derbyshire. He came to the United States in 1789, after working for six years as an apprentice and manager in an English textile mill. At the mill, he learned the workings of the spinning machine developed by the British inventor Richard Arkwright. Slater left England in disguise because the British government prohibited any person who had knowledge of the design and operation of spinning machines from leaving the country. With this policy, Britain sought to maintain its world leadership in the production of textiles.