By 1793, Slater Mill was in full operation, staffed in part by local children aged between seven and thirteen years old. As the business expanded, Slater devised “the Rhode Island System,” hiring entire families en masse. His “system” proved both effective and influential. By 1860, more than half of the mill workers in all of Rhode Island were children. He initially sought out the children of unhoused or incarcerated people to build up his workforce, but finding them too costly to house and feed, he began to encourage local working-class families to quite literally bring their children to work
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