Here you have the two definitions, read them and try to understand what they mean. I am sorry the post I long but certain matters can not be explained in half a line. Classical liberalism: Also known as traditional liberalism, laissez-faire liberalism and market liberalism or sometimes simply liberalism is a doctrine stressing individual freedom, free markets, and limited government. This includes the importance of human rationality, individual property rights, natural rights, the protection of civil liberties, individual freedom from restraint, equality under the law, constitutional limitation of government, free markets, and a gold standard to place fiscal constraints on government. As such, it is the fusion of economic liberalism with political liberalism of the late 18th and 19th centuries. The "normative core" of classical liberalism is the idea that laissez-faire economics will bring about a spontaneous order or invisible hand that benefits the society, though it does not necessarily oppose the state's provision of some basic public goods with what constitutes public goods being seen as very limited. The qualification classical was applied retroactively to distinguish it from more recent, 20th-century conceptions of liberalism and its related movements. Modern liberalism also referred to as American liberalism, is a political philosophy that seeks to maximize individual liberty. It builds on the belief that people derive happiness from a wide variety of sources, and all are entitled to the right to pursue happiness, so long as they don't infringe on the rights of others. It advocates a government that ensures the opportunity of all to choose their way of life, by providing positive rights, such as health care and education, freedom of speech. Princeton sociologist Paul Starr described it by saying, "Liberalism wagers that a state... can be strong but constrained – strong because constrained... Rights to education and other requirements for human development and security aim to advance equal opportunity and personal dignity and to promote a creative and productive society. To guarantee those rights, liberals have supported a wider social and economic role for the state, counterbalanced by more robust guarantees of civil liberties and a wider social system of checks and balances anchored in an independent press and pluralistic society." John F. Kennedy defined liberalism this way: "If by a 'Liberal' they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people — their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties — someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a 'Liberal,' then I'm proud to say I'm a 'Liberal.'