diff --git a/pelican/contents.py b/pelican/contents.py
index 1587a1eb..9c2327d4 100644
--- a/pelican/contents.py
+++ b/pelican/contents.py
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 from pelican.utils import slugify, truncate_html_words
 from pelican.log import *
 from pelican.settings import _DEFAULT_CONFIG
+from datetime import datetime
 from os import getenv
 from sys import platform, stdin
 
@@ -23,8 +24,6 @@ class Page(object):
         self._content = content
         self.translations = []
 
-        self.status = "published"  # default value
-
         local_metadata = dict(settings.get('DEFAULT_METADATA', ()))
         local_metadata.update(metadata)
 
@@ -87,7 +86,10 @@ class Page(object):
         # manage status
         if not hasattr(self, 'status'):
             self.status = settings['DEFAULT_STATUS']
-
+            if not settings['WITH_FUTURE_DATES']:
+                if hasattr(self, 'date') and self.date > datetime.now():
+                    self.status = 'draft'
+        
         # set summary
         if not hasattr(self, 'summary'):
             self.summary = truncate_html_words(self.content, 50)
diff --git a/pelican/settings.py b/pelican/settings.py
index c7ac35ff..f74e085d 100644
--- a/pelican/settings.py
+++ b/pelican/settings.py
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ _DEFAULT_CONFIG = {'PATH': None,
                    'PDF_GENERATOR': False,
                    'DEFAULT_CATEGORY': 'misc',
                    'FALLBACK_ON_FS_DATE': True,
+                   'WITH_FUTURE_DATES': True,
                    'CSS_FILE': 'main.css',
                    'REVERSE_ARCHIVE_ORDER': False,
                    'REVERSE_CATEGORY_ORDER': False,