Editing Temperance movement (section)

===Origins (pre-1820)===
During the 18th century, Native American cultures and societies were severely affected by alcohol, which was often given in trade for furs, leading to poverty and social disintegration.<ref name="Mancall">[https://books.google.com/books?id=Qd3HTX6Cid0C Peter C. Mancall, ''Deadly Medicine: Indians and Alcohol in Early America,'' Cornell University Press, 1997.] {{ISBN|0801480442}}</ref> As early as 1737, [[Native American temperance activists]] began to campaign against alcohol and for legislation to restrict the sale and distribution of alcoholic drinks in indigenous communities. During the colonial era, leaders such as [[Peter Chartier]], [[King Hagler]] and [[Little Turtle]] resisted the use of rum and brandy as [[trade item]]s, in an effort to protect Native Americans from cultural changes they viewed as destructive.<ref name="Mancall" />

In the 18th century, there was a [[Gin Craze|gin craze]] in Great Britain. The middle classes became increasingly critical of the widespread drunkenness among the lower classes. Motivated by the middle-class desire for order, and amplified by the population growth in the cities, the drinking of gin became the subject of critical national debate.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Yeomans |first1=Henry |title=Alcohol and Moral Regulation: Public Attitudes, Spirited Measures and Victorian Hangovers. |date=2014 |publisher=Policy Press |isbn=9781447309932 |page=37 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hJXhAwAAQBAJ}}</ref> In 1743, [[John Wesley]], the founder of the Methodist Churches, proclaimed "that buying, selling, and drinking of liquor, unless absolutely necessary, were evils to be avoided".<ref name="Williams1984">{{cite book|last=Williams|first=William Henry|title=The Garden of American Methodism: The Delmarva Peninsula, 1769-1820|year=1984|publisher=Peninsula Conference of the United Methodist Church|isbn=9780842022279|page=[https://archive.org/details/gardenofamerican00will/page/151 151]|url=https://archive.org/details/gardenofamerican00will/page/151}}</ref>

In the early 19th-century United States, alcohol was still regarded as a necessary part of the American diet for both practical and social reasons. Water supplies were often polluted, milk was not always available, and coffee and tea were expensive. Social constructs of the time also made it impolite for people (particularly men) to refuse alcohol.<ref name="clean" />{{rp|37}} Drunkenness was not a problem, because people would only drink small amounts of alcohol throughout the day; at the turn of the 19th century, however, overindulgence and subsequent intoxication became problems that often led to the disintegration of the family.<ref name="clean" />{{rp|37}} Early temperance societies, often associated with churches, were located in upstate New York and New England, but only lasted a few years. These early temperance societies called for moderate drinking (hence the name "[[Wiktionary:temperance|temperance]]"), but had little influence outside of their geographical areas.

In 1810, [[Calvinist]] ministers met in a seminary in Massachusetts to write articles about abstinence from alcohol to use in preaching to their congregations.<ref name="clean" />{{rp|38}} The Massachusetts Society for the Suppression of Intemperance (MSSI) was formed in 1813.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hampel |first1=Robert L. |title=Temperance and Prohibition in Massachusetts 1813-1852 |date=1982 |publisher=UMI Research Press |location=Ann Arbor, Michigan |isbn=978-0835712910 |page=13}}</ref> The organization only accepted men of high social standing and encouraged moderation in alcohol consumption. Its peak of influence was in 1818, and it ended in 1820, having made no significant mark on the future of the temperance movement.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hanson |first1=David J. |title=Massachusetts Society for the Suppression of Intemperance |url=https://www.alcoholproblemsandsolutions.org/massachusetts-society-for-the-suppression-of-intemperance/ |website=Alcohol Problems and Solutions |publisher=Sociology Department: State University of New York |access-date=13 June 2018|date=2016-02-11 }}</ref><ref name="clean" />{{rp|38}} Other small temperance societies appeared in the 1810s, but had little impact outside their immediate regions and they disbanded soon after. Their methods had little effect in implementing temperance, and drinking actually increased until after 1830; however, their methods of public [[abstinence pledge]]s and meetings, as well as handing out pamphlets, were implemented by more lasting temperance societies such as the American Temperance Society.<ref name="clean" />{{rp|38}}

The first temperance society in Pennsylvania, of which a record has been found was that of "Darby Association for Discouraging the Unnecessary Use of Spirituous Liquors" organized in Delaware County in 1819, at the Darby Friends Meetinghouse.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=The PA Magazine of History and Biography|title=Temperance Movement Prior to the Civil War|last=Martin|first=Asa|date=1925|volume=49|issue=3|page=20}}</ref>