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Defining Documents in American History: Liberalism

Chronological List

September 20, 1902: Theodore Roosevelt on Corporate Trusts

December 1906: “Child Labor and Other Dangers of Childhood”

1908: Editorial on the Supreme Court Ruling in the Danbury Hatters’ Case

February 24, 1908: Muller v. Oregon

March 17, 1908: Robert La Follette on Amending the National Banking Laws:

1909: From The Promise of American Life

1912: Progressive Party Platform:

1912 (various dates during campaign): The “New Freedom”:

April 8, 1913: Seventeenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

1914: Clayton Act

March 5, 1917: President Woodrow Wilson’s Second Inaugural Address

1919: Covenant of the League of Nations

November 1919: “What Modern Liberty Means”

August 18, 1920: Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

February 23-24, 1921: “Labor Will Not Be Outlawed or Enslaved”

June 4, 1928: Louis D. Brandeis’s Dissent in Olmstead v. United States

March 1932: “What Ten Million Women Want”

April 7, 1932: Radio Address on “The Forgotten Man”

September 23, 1932: Franklin D. Roosevelt on Government’s Role in the Economy

1933: Auto Workers Strike

May 7, 1933: Fireside Chat Outlining the New Deal

December 16, 1933: An Open Letter to President Roosevelt

January 17, 1935 and August 14, 1935: President Franklin D. Roosevelt on Social Security

June 25, 1938: Fair Labor Standards Act

June 25, 1938: Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938

November 23, 1939: “What Does American Democracy Mean to Me?”

May 8, 1942: “The Century of the Common Man”

1944: From The Great Transformation

June 5, 1947: Speech on the Marshall Plan

April 4, 1948: “Not Left, Not Right, But a Vital Center”

May 3, 1948: Shelley v. Kraemer (1948)

December 10, 1948: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

January 20, 1949: President Harry Truman’s Address at Second Inauguration

May 17, 1954: Brown v. Board of Education

December 5, 1955: Address to the Montgomery Improvement Association

September 29, 1958: Cooper v. Aaron

April 1960 (Initial Draft); April 29, 1962 (Revised): Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee Constitution

July 15, 1960: “The New Frontier”

January 20, 1961: “Ask Not What Your Country Can Do for You”

March 1, 1961: EO 10924: Establishment of the Peace Corps

March 26, 1962: Baker v. Carr

June 15, 1962: Port Huron Statement

June 25, 1962: Engel v. Vitale

September 27, 1962: From Silent Spring

March 18, 1963: Gideon v. Wainwright

April 16, 1963: “Letter from Birmingham Jail”

June 10, 1963: Equal Pay Act of 1963

June 26, 1963: “Ich bin ein Berliner”

August 28, 1963: “I Have a Dream”

March 9, 1964: New York Times Co. v. Sullivan

March 16, 1964: Proposal for a Nationwide War on the Sources of Poverty

May 22, 1964: “The Great Society”

June 15, 1964: Reynolds v. Sims

July 2, 1964: Civil Rights Act of 1964

August 22, 1964: Testimony of Fannie Lou Hamer before the Credentials Committee of the Democratic National Convention

March 15, 1965: “The American Promise”

May 18, 1965: President’s Remarks on the Launching of Project Head Start

June 7, 1965: Griswold v. Connecticut

August 6, 1965: Voting Rights Act of 1965

October 3, 1965: Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965

June 6, 1966: “Day of Affirmation” Address at Cape Town University

June 13, 1966: Miranda v. Arizona

October 29, 1966: National Organization for Women (NOW) Founding Statement

October 13, 1967: An Act Ending Sex Discrimination in Government Employment

November 30, 1967: Senator Eugene McCarthy’s Announcement of Presidential Run

June 28, 1969: Stonewall Riot Leaflet

July 9, 1970: On the Establishment of the EPA and NOAA

June 30, 1971: New York Times Co. v. United States

March 22, 1972 (passage by Congress): Equal Rights Amendment

June 23, 1972: Title IX

July 12, 1972: George McGovern’s Acceptance Speech at the 1972 Democratic National Convention

October 18, 1972: Clean Water Act

October 21, 1972: Marine Mammal Protection Act

January 22, 1973: Roe v. Wade

December 28, 1973: Endangered Species Act

November 10, 1975: Response to the Passing of UN Resolution 3379

July 12, 1976: Barbara Jordan’s Keynote Address at the 1976 Democratic National Convention

January 20, 1977: President Jimmy Carter’s Inaugural Address

June 28, 1978: Justice Thurgood Marshall’s Dissent in the Bakke Case

January 23, 1979: Jimmy Carter’s Second State of the Union Address

June 15, 1982: Plyler v. Doe

1984: César Chávez’s Commonwealth Address

July 16, 1984: Mario Cuomo’s Keynote Speech at the 1984 Democratic National Convention

July 17, 1984: Jesse Jackson’s “Rainbow Coalition” Address at the 1984 Democratic National Convention

July 19, 1984: Geraldine Ferraro’s Acceptance Speech at the Democratic National Convention

July 19, 1988: Ann Richards’s Keynote Address at the 1988 Democratic National Convention

November 20, 1989: United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child

July 1992: Speech on AIDS at the 1992 Democratic Convention

July 16, 1992: Bill Clinton’s Democratic Presidential Nominee Acceptance Speech

1993: Brady Handgun Violence Protection Act

August 22, 1996: Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act (PRWORA)

June 25, 1997: City of Boerne v. Flores

December 1997: Al Gore’s Address to the Kyoto Climate Change Conference

July 30, 2002: Sarbanes-Oxley Act

2003: “The Emperor Has No Clothes”

June 26, 2003: Lawrence v. Texas

March 18, 2008: “A More Perfect Union”

July 7, 2009: Address on NATO’s New Strategic Concept

October 28, 2009: Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act

March 21, 2010: Nancy Pelosi’s Floor Speech on Health Care Reform Bill

July 21, 2010: Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act—A Synopsis

November 30, 2010: Dream Act of 2010—Bill Summary

June 28, 2012: National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius

2013: Black Lives Matter

June 26, 2013: United States v. Windsor

November 20, 2014: Executive Actions on Immigration, 2014

December 10, 2014: Vice President Joe Biden on Combating Violence against Women

June 26, 2015: Obergefell v. Hodges

2016: Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Polling Place Accessibility Checklist

July 28, 2016: Hillary Clinton’s Acceptance Speech at the 2016 Democratic National Convention

October 10, 2016 and October 11, 2017: Summary of Letter Requesting Further Review of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) and Memorandum Opinion Regarding Vacatur

January 21, 2017: Angela Davis at the Women’s March on Washington

June 19, 2019: Opening Statement on Slavery Reparations before the House Judiciary Committee

November 7, 2020: Biden-Harris Campaign Victory Speech

March 3, 2021: “A Foreign Policy for the American People”

June 10, 2021: “Is Liberal Democracy Being Undone by Liberalism?”

June 17, 2021: Juneteenth National Independence Day Act—Remarks by President Joe Biden

January 6, 2022: Remarks by President Joe Biden One Year after the January 6 Assault on the U.S. Capitol

April 5, 2024: On Elections and a Trump Economy

August 20, 2024: Michelle Obama’s Speech at the 2024 Democratic National Convention

March 4, 2025: Bernie Sanders’s Response to President Trump’s Address to Congress

Citation Types

MLA 9th
"Chronological List." Defining Documents in American History: Liberalism, edited by Michael Shally-Jensen, Salem Press, 2025. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=DDLiberalism_0134.
APA 7th
Chronological List. Defining Documents in American History: Liberalism, In M. Shally-Jensen (Ed.), Salem Press, 2025. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=DDLiberalism_0134.
CMOS 17th
"Chronological List." Defining Documents in American History: Liberalism, Edited by Michael Shally-Jensen. Salem Press, 2025. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=DDLiberalism_0134.