本题考查汽船的发明者。

The great American inventors include Robert Fulton (the steamboat); Samuel Morse (the telegraph); Eli Whitney (the cotton gin, interchangeable parts); Cyrus McCormick (the reaper); and Thomas Edison (with more than 1,000 inventions credited to his name).

伟大的美国发明家包括罗伯特•富尔顿（发明了汽船）、萨缪尔•摩尔斯（发明了电报）、伊莱•惠特尼（发明了轧棉机，提出可互换零件概念）、塞勒斯•麦考密克（发明了收割机）、托马斯•爱迪生（有1000多项发明）。故选C。