Final answer:
Harvard University was the only institution of higher education in the 1600s, established by the Puritans in 1636 to promote reading the Bible and understanding religious tenets for church membership and salvation.
Step-by-step explanation:
For much of the 1600s, Harvard University was the only institution of higher education in the country. Established by the Puritans in 1636 as a means to ensure that all potential church members could read the Bible and understand the tenets of their religion, Harvard stood alone in its mission of educating the future leaders—and for a long time, it was the sole beacon of higher learning. The significance of education in the Puritan community was such that they also passed the Old Deluder Satan Law in 1647, which enforced the establishment of schools for the purpose of teaching children to read and write, along with studying the Bible, a requirement for achieving salvation.