In the history of the United States, a clean living movement is a period of time when a surge of health-reform crusades erupts into the popular consciousness.
This results in individual, or group reformers such as the anti-tobacco or alcohol coalitions of the late twentieth century, to campaign to eliminate the health problem or to "clean up" society.
The term "Clean Living Movement" was coined by Ruth C. Engs, a professor of Applied Health Sciences at Indiana University in 1990.
Interest in these issues rise and fall more or less simultaneously and often follow a religious awakening in which both evangelical sentiments and the development of new sects emerge.
Reformers in these movements first attempt to convince individuals they should not drink, smoke or engage in behaviors or lifestyles harmful to health.
During the Jacksonian era and out of the second great awakening, a crusade against "Demon rum" and other spirits ensued in states east of the Mississippi River and north of the Mason–Dixon line.
Various ethnic, cultural, and religious minorities, such as Irish immigrants and Roman Catholics, were held up as moral examples during the period, thought to be responsible for both excessive drinking and the spread of diseases such as cholera.
For example, "women’s liberation" was countered by a "pro-family" movement; the use of marijuana and other drugs was followed by a "war on drugs"; lowering of the drinking age was followed by a raising of the drinking age; non-marital sexual activity was challenged by a new "purity" movement; and legal rights to obtaining abortions ("pro-choice") were met with agitation against abortion ("pro-life").
Fitness and exercise, diet, alternative religions and medicine, consumers rights, smoke-free environments, and other health reforms became prime concerns of the day.