Slater made his fortune in the US, but it came at a cost. It is said he deceived his employer, abandoned his family and betrayed English manufacturing. At the time, the US was the world's biggest exporter of cotton, but did not have the technology to process it. Britain knew this and passed laws in 1774 banning textile workers from traveling to America. Going against the grain, Samuel Slater sneaked on a ship and became the father of America's Industrial Revolution.