The American Progress was painted in 1872 by John Gast and it provides an image of the Westward Expansion. It shows how progress was brought progressively to the savage and unknown Western lands. Actually the East is represented on the right side of the image as the area with bright blues skies, as a contraposition to the dark West. The woman in the middle is called 'Progress', and she carries a book which represents the intellectual developments. These developments came together with the innovative tecnical and farming mechanisms that the indigenous people who moved to the area had to put in practice in order to make a living in the new lands, and that allowed them to undertake agricultural activities profitably.
The most likely cause of an increase in the crime rate from 1920 to 1933 was the introduction of prohibition. Prohibition banned the production and sale of alcoholic beverages. This ban afforded the chance to make alot of money by producing and selling illegal alcohol. Prohibition also saw the huge increase in organized crime.
