Industrial Revolution<span>, </span><span>in modern history, the </span>process<span> of change from an agrarian, handicraft economy to one dominated by </span>industry<span> and </span>machine<span> manufacture. This process began in </span>Britain<span>in the 18th century and from there spread to other parts of the world. Although used earlier by French writers, the term Industrial Revolution was first popularized by the English economic historian </span>Arnold Toynbee<span> (1852–83) to describe Britain’s economic development from 1760 to 1840. Since Toynbee’s time the term has been more broadly applied.</span>
There are several ways in which the U.S. increased western settlement in the 1800's, but by far the most important action was the creation of the Homestead Act.
