temperance movement
Entry from World dictionary
Definition of temperance movement
noun
Temperance movements appeared in the early 19th century, spreading across Europe and the US from Northern Ireland and New England, and led by Christian groups, trade unionists, and advocates of women’s suffrage. In the US a lengthy campaign by groups such as the Anti-Saloon League (founded 1893) led to Prohibition in 1920, while in the UK the Defence of the Realm Act (1916) limited the hours that public houses could open and excluded people under eighteen