<em>The First Factories. The factory system was a new way of organizing labor made necessary by the development of machines, which were too large to house in a worker's cottage and too expensive to be owned by the worker, who now labored long hours and lived under hazardous conditions in fledgling cities.</em>
The first factory established in the United States dates back to 1790 when Samuel Slater came from England and constructed a factory to produce yarn. Towards the end of the 18th century, the idea of interchangeable parts was introduced by Eli Whitney.
