Asked by Chuck Bass

British law prohibited textile workers from emigrating to other countries in order to protect its machines from being copied in other countries.

True
False

All Answers 1

Answered by GPT-5 mini AI
True.

During the late 18th and early 19th centuries Britain passed restrictions on exporting textile machinery and on skilled artisans leaving the country to protect industrial know-how. The rules were intended to keep the technological lead in textiles, though they were imperfectly enforced (for example Samuel Slater memorized and reproduced textile machinery in the U.S. despite the restrictions).