USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -The term Puritan is commonly applied to a reform movement that strove to purify the practices and structure of the Church of England in the sixteenth through eighteenth centuries. As dissidents, they sought religious freedom and economic opportunities in distant lands.

Detailed explanation-2: -During the 1660s and 1670s a series of penal laws were enacted which persecuted both Catholics and members of the various nonconformist groups. Enforcement of these laws unleashed a period of violent religious disturbance and hatred across England, Scotland and Wales.

Detailed explanation-3: -Beginning in 1630 as many as 20, 000 Puritans emigrated to America from England to gain the liberty to worship God as they chose. Most settled in New England, but some went as far as the West Indies.

Detailed explanation-4: -Until the 18th century, some groups were nearly universally persecuted for their religious views, such as atheists, Jews and Zoroastrians.

Detailed explanation-5: -Thirty-five of the Pilgrims were members of the radical English Separatist Church, who traveled to America to escape the jurisdiction of the Church of England, which they found corrupt. Ten years earlier, English persecution had led a group of Separatists to flee to Holland in search of religious freedom.