<span>Reconstruction brought many changes. The 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments promised great changes in the lives of African Americans. Unfortunately, there were constant attempts to strip African Americans of the new freedoms promised by the Constitution.</span>
The post war economic boom was due primarily to foreign debt. The United States made substantial loans to European countries during World War I. Although the Europeans had very little money to repay the debts, American bankers restructured the loans to facilitate repayment. Although a brief recession occured in the early part of the decade, the Roaring Twenties saw the expansion of the stock market and considerable profit for investors.
Colonies such as Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Maryland were settled primarily by people seeking religious freedom. Pilgrim Separatists desired a break from the Church of England, and arrived in Massachusetts aboard the Mayflower in 1620. Later, a different religious sect, the Puritans, arrived in Massachusetts fleeing persecution in England. Unlike the Separatists, the Puritans did not want to break from the Church of England; they wanted to "purify" it. This was met with opposition -- including violence -- and by 1630 nearly 20,000 Puritans fled to Massachusetts. Colonies such as Maryland were founded as a refuge for other persecuted religious groups. English persecution -- like a ban on a Catholic priest officiating a marriage of two Catholics -- prompted many to come to Maryland. Lord Baltimore founded Maryland as a Catholic refuge in 1632.
