The Temperance Movement stressed the reduction and banning of alcoholic beverages. This was done during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century because of the epidemic of alcoholism. Drinking was a contributing factor to spousal abuse, family neglect, and chronic unemployment. The movement sought temperance towards alcohol consumption rather than total abstinence. The movement’s activities eventually expanded to the observance of Sabbath and other moral issues. It had its major effect on American politics and American society in the nineteenth and twentieth century.