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For the continental United States the implications of the Ten Year Crusade about doubled the number of local spiritual assemblies, the local administrative body of the religion (sometimes called a 'congregation' in external statistical reviews especially later,) for the country in that decade, 1953 to 1963. While the international ramifications culminating in the election of the Universal House of Justice were definitive for the entire Bahá'í community nevertheless there were significant developments for the continental US. The number of assemblies grew from about 161 to over 330 with similar growth in locales with insufficient numbers of adults to elect their own assembly. There was also the application of an institutional middle ground between localities and the nation as a whole into 12 units of states. Much of the success of the effort was in an atmosphere of 'dispersing' Bahá'ís from larger communities than about 15 adults in a civil boundary and there was also a list of goal communities developed which also contributed to the success of the effort, though there were a few cases of local spiritual assemblies that dissolved over the period. By far the largest growth took place in California though several other states also experienced significant growth either compared to all the other states or in contrast to the relative growth in some states that had been low in numbers of assemblies.

Overview of the continental implications of the Ten Year Crusade
America had 'subordinate objectives' during the Ten Year Crusade. One included raising of the total number of Local Spiritual Assemblies to three hundred. This message to the American Bahá’í community at the national convention was conveyed by Rúhíyyih Khánum. The principles for the list of goal cities developed was later explained in the national Baha'i News periodical. The National Assembly followed these principles:
 * If a state had only one assembly, at least one other town was on the list with priority to preserving that one assembly.
 * Any goal with no Bahá'í presence was called a 'virgin goal' and otherwise was a 'consolidation goal'. 40 virgin goals were compiled.
 * If a state had a cluster of assemblies in one area goals was picked in outlying areas of that cluster to "reduce the immense distances between many Bahá'í communities."
 * 133 goal cities were developed where groups of at least 4 Bahá'ís lived.
 * Some goals were developed "within easy travel" of established communities so that people who could afford only moving narrowly could do so.
 * If a community that was not a goal area were to rise to assembly status they would be counted towards the total and that individuals were free to pioneer anywhere but should not expect other pioneers to be coordinated to join them just because they were there.

The Bahá'í directory for 1953-1954 listed 171 local assemblies, 600 locales with groups of 2-8 adult Bahá'ís, and 611 locations with isolated individual Bahá'ís. The first national list of goal cities was published in the Baha'i News in October, 1953. By 1963 there were 331(if one doesn't include the Washington in the District of Colombia as a 'state') total assemblies, 649 locations with groups of 2-8 adult Bahá'ís, short of electing an assembly, and 676 locations of isolated Bahá'ís.

Before being officially tasked with the work to support the goal some Area Teaching Committees already existed and were in a degree of organization with their own newsletters and conferences by September, 1953. These institutions had existed at least as far back as 1949, sometimes called Regional Teaching Committees (RTCs). The fact that the Area Teaching Committees were designated central to the achievement of the goal was detailed again in June, 1955.

Rúhíyyih Khánum had also had mentioned the dispersal of Bahá'ís from larger communities and in the coming months and years this would be a refrain heard by pilgrims. Excerpts from letters from pioneers in April 1954 on their progress and aims was published which includes a mention of the idea of “dispersing” of communities larger than 15 adults. By June there was mention specifically of emphasizing pioneers leaving from communities of 15 or more adults. By July 1954 there were thoughts that maintaining 9 adult believers in a locale for keeping a local spiritual assembly was not required which Shoghi Effendi countered and then clarified saying that the two most historic American Bahá'í communities - Chicago and New York - could sustain themselves with 15 adult believers: "The mighty and laudable effort exerted, by a considerable number of pioneers, in the course of the opening phase of this world-encircling Crusade, in the virgin territories of the globe, must, if this primacy is to remain unimpaired, be increased, doubled, nay trebled, and must manifest itself not only in foreign fields where the prizes so laboriously won during the last twelve months must, at whatever sacrifice, be meticulously preserved, but throughout the entire length and breadth of the American Union, and particularly in the goal cities, where hitherto the work has stagnated, and which must, in the year now entered, become the scene of the finest exploits which the home front has yet seen. A veritable exodus from the large cities where a considerable number of believers have, over a period of years, congregated, both on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, as well as in the heart of the country, and where, owing to the tempo and the distractions of city life, the progress of the Faith has been retarded, must signalize the inauguration of this most intensive and challenging phase of the Crusade on the home front. Most certainly and emphatically must the lead be given by the two focal centers of Bahá'í activity which rank among the oldest of and occupy the most honored position among, the cities throughout the American Union, the one as the mother city of the North American continent, the other named by `Abdu'l-Bahá the City of the Covenant. Indeed, so grave are the exigencies of the present hour, and so critical the political position of the country, that were a bare fifteen adult Bahá'ís to be left in each of these cities, over which unsuspected dangers are hanging, it would still be regarded as adequate for the maintenance of their local spiritual assemblies."

This was amplified in September with comment on behalf of Shoghi Effendi of Bahá'ís 'dispersing' from larger communities making sure that people should be picking goal cities as their targets for pioneering.