Eric Foner: Freedom had many meanings to people coming right out of slavery. But one of the things that it critically involved was access to education. Most of the Southern states, before the Civil War, made it illegal to teach a slave to read and write. Now, some African Americans did learn to read and write secretly. Some... their master or mistress actually taught them to read and write. But the vast majority had had no access to education at all. And they realized that education was critical to advancement as free people in this society. As well as, many of them, being deeply religious, wanted to be able to read the Bible.
Many colonies were established by people who were exiled because of their religious beliefs. A group known as the Puritans wanted to reform the Church of England. In the early 1600s, the Puritans were respected professionals who were influential in England.
