Samuel Slater: a. invented the cotton gin. b. developed stone-crushing technology useful for road building. c. was a steamboat innovator. d. established the Erie Canal. e. established America's first factory.

The correct answer is E. Samuel Slater established America's first factory.

Explanation:

Samuel Slater was an English-born American entrepreneur and industrialist.

He is referred to as the "father of the American industrial revolution" because, when he emigrated to the United States at the age of 21, he brought with him plans for the so-called Spinning Jenny, a spinning machine invented in England around 1764, which laid the foundation for the American textile industry. To do this, he broke British law, which prohibited the transfer of industrial know-how to other nations. In Pawtucket, Rhode Island, he convinced his new employer of his knowledge and in 1793 built the first water-driven textile mill in the United States based on British plants.