<P> The temperance movement is a social movement against the consumption of alcoholic beverages . Participants in the movement typically criticize alcohol intoxication or promote complete abstinence (teetotalism), leaders emphasizing the sinfulness of drinking as well as the evil effects on personality, family life . Typically the movement demands new laws against the selling of alcohols, or to regulate the availability of alcohol, or completely prohibit it . During the 19th and early 20th centuries, the Temperance Movement became prominent in many countries, particularly English - speaking and Scandinavian ones, and it led to Prohibition in the United States from 1920 to 1933 . </P> <P> In the late - seventeenth century, alcohol was a vital part of colonial life as a beverage, medicine, and commodity for men, women, and children . Drinking was widely accepted and completely integrated in society; however, drunkenness was not . Despite that, drunkenness was common and not often seen as a social problem . The attitudes towards alcohol began to change in the late eighteenth century . One of the reasons for the shifting attitudes was the necessity for sober laborers to operate heavy machinery that had been developed as a result of the Industrial Revolution . Anthony Benezet suggested abstinence from alcohol in 1775 . As early as the 1790s, physician Benjamin Rush researched the danger that drinking alcohol could lead to disease that leads to a lack of self - control and he cited abstinence as the only treatment option . Rush saw benefits in fermented drinks, but condemned the use of distilled spirits . As well as addiction, Rush noticed the correlation that drunkenness had with disease, death, suicide and crime . After the American Revolution, Rush called upon ministers of various churches to act in preaching the messages of temperance . However, abstinence messages were largely ignored by Americans until the 1820s . </P> <P> In the eighteenth century, there was a "Gin Craze" in the Kingdom of Great Britain . The bourgeoisie became increasingly critical of the widespread drunkenness among the lower classes . Motivated by the bourgeoisie's desire for order, and amplified by the population growth in the cities, the drinking of gin became the subject of critical national debate . </P>

When did the temperance movement start and end