Edward C. Delevan (1793-1871) was a wealthy businessman who devoted much of his fortune to promoting the temperance movement. He helped establish the American Temperance Union; attacked the use of wine in Christian communion; established a temperance hotel in Albany, New York; traveled to Europe to promote teetotalism; sent a million copies of a temperance tract to every soldier in the Union Army during the Civil War; and sponsored a series of periodicals. They included the Journal of the American Temperance Union, the Temperance Recorder, the American Temperance Intelligencer; the Enquirer, and the Prohibitionist. Prohibition or dry towns in Illinois and Wisconsin were named in his honor. A Temperance Movement (see definition of temperance) attempts to greatly reduce the amount of alcohol consumed or even prohibit its production and consumption entirely. ... Teetotalism is the practice or promotion of complete abstinence from alcoholic beverages. ...

See also

• History of Anti-Alcohol Movements
• National Prohibition of Alcohol in the U.S.

Source

• American National Biography