Edward Cornelius Delavan (1793–1871) was a wealthy businessman who devoted much of his fortune to promoting the

temperance movement The temperance movement is a social movement promoting Temperance (virtue), temperance or total abstinence from consumption of alcoholic beverages. Participants in the movement typically criticize alcohol intoxication or promote teetotalism, and ...

. 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 Teetotalism is the practice of voluntarily abstaining from the consumption of alcohol, specifically in alcoholic drinks. A person who practices (and possibly advocates) teetotalism is called a teetotaler (US) or teetotaller (UK), or said to b ...

. He helped spearhead the local option movement in New York during the 1840s by which local majorities could vote their towns dry. In 1846, he received the nomination for the Governorship of New York from the

Native American Party The American Party, known as the Native American Party before 1855 and colloquially referred to as the Know Nothings, or the Know Nothing Party, was an Old Stock nativist political movement in the United States in the 1850s. Members of the m ...

, but he declined it. He was also active in the

Maine Law The Maine Law (or "Maine Liquor Law"), passed on June 2, 1851 in Maine, was the first statutory implementation of the developing temperance movement in the United States. History Temperance activist Neal Dow helped craft the Maine liquor law whi ...

prohibition movement of the 1850s. He later sent a copy of a temperance tract to every soldier in the Union Army during the Civil War (a million copies in all); 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. E. C. Delavan is the namesake of

Delavan, Illinois Delavan is a city in Tazewell County, Illinois, United States. Its population was 1,689 in the 2010 census. It is a part of the Peoria, Illinois Peoria metropolitan area, Metropolitan Statistical Area. History Delavan was founded by a group of ...

and

Delavan, Wisconsin Delavan is a city in Walworth County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 8,505 at the 2020 census. It is located southwest of Milwaukee. The city is located partially within the Delavan (town), Wisconsin, Town of Delavan, but the two ...

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Delevan, Edward C. 1793 births 1871 deaths American temperance activists 19th-century American businesspeople People of the American Civil War