Robert Fulton was an American inventor and engineer of the first commercially successful U.S. steamboat, the Clermont (1807). The Clermont was based on the ideas of John Fitch. In 1807, Fulton successfully tested his vessel on the Hudson River; thereafter he won the right to operate steamboats on Hudson and on other rivers in New York State, as well as on the lower Mississippi.
Relevant Date(s)
1765 - 1815