The steam engine was one of the most important technologies of the Industrial Revolution. Before the steam engine, people used machines operated by running water. The invention of the steam engine was credited to Robert Fulton who first commercially used the product for a steamboat. The steam engine itself affected America in ways that we so new to the society. With the Steamboat usage, products were able to be shipped back and forth from different locations. A large waterway that had been traveled was the Erie Canal which connected the Hudson River and Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes of Michigan. Steamboats were a huge part of the transportation of goods about this waterway. The steam engine allowed textile mills to be placed anywhere, instead of having to be located near a source of water. It allowed the textile mills to work year around. Before the steam engine, factories on the water would be forced to shut down in the winter because their source of water would freeze.
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