Robert Fulton

Robert Fulton was a famous inventor and engineer. During the 1780s, he became the first American to build a steam-powered engine. This engine was used to power steamboats all over the United States. He built a paddle steamboat, the Clermont, that traveled from New York to Albany on the Hudson River. The steam engine was a great invention because it was important to the transportation industry. With steamboats traveling all of the United States's major rivers, they became the fastest way of transportation for Americans.