The Triennial Convention (so-called because it met every three years) was the first national Baptist denomination in the United States. Founded in 1814 as the General Missionary Convention of the Baptist Denomination in the United States of America for Foreign Missions, it was formed to advance missionary work and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In a dispute over slavery and missions policy, Baptist churches in the South separated from the Triennial Convention and established the Southern Baptist Convention in 1845. This split left the Triennial Convention largely Northern in membership. In 1907, the Triennial Convention was reorganized into the Northern Baptist Convention, which was renamed the American Baptist Churches USA in 1972.