Universalists which remain, but most are affiliated with other denominations. Church organization Universalist congregations tended towards independence and were not easily prone to centralization. They generally met in State Conventions, which usually had more authority than was vested in national Conventions. The church had three divinity schools: Theological School of St. Lawrence University (1856–1965), the Ryder Divinity School (c. 1885–1913) at Lombard College, and the Crane Theological School of Tufts University (1869–1968). The Philadelphia Convention was an independent National Convention from 1790 to about 1810. Notwithstanding its tendency toward independence, Universalist congregations supported the construction of The Universalist National Memorial Church in Washington, D.C., to serve as the official church of Universalism. In 1921, the Universalist General Convention approved funds for the building of the church and services began in 1925. The present church, located at 1810 Sixteenth Street NW, Washington DC, was established in 1930 and its current congregation continues to follow Universalist principles. Social and political stances The Universalist Church of America involved itself in several social causes, generally with a politically liberal bent. Abolitionism As noted above, Benjamin Rush was a major political activist for anti-slavery causes in early America. The issue resurfaced in the 1850s with the Fugitive Slave Act and other compromises; the Universalists, along with various other denominations, vigorously opposed slavery as immoral. They also favored postbellum legislation such as the Fifteenth Amendment and the Freedman's Act to enfranchise all American citizens. Separation of church and state Like many American religions, Universalism has generally been amenable to church-state separation. In New England, Baptists, Universalists, and Quakers provided some of the loudest voices calling for disestablishment of the government sponsored churches of the standing order. One example comes from the 1770s. By Massachusetts state law, citizens were taxed to support the Congregational Church of the community where they lived. Sixty-one people in Gloucester left the church to form the Independent Church of Christ, which stood for Universalism. They then refused to pay their taxes. The church they built was seized and sold to pay; however, the Church sued, and in 1786, they won their case. Spiritualism Although the Universalist Church as a denomination never fully embraced Spiritualism, many Universalists were sympathetic to this nineteenth-century movement. Spiritualism was preached with some regularity from Universalist pulpits in the middle decades of the 19th century and some ministers left the denomination when their Spiritualist leanings became too pronounced