# How were the Twelve Steps written?

**In short:**
- Bill W. wrote the Twelve Steps in 1938, while drafting the Big Book's fifth chapter. Both co-founders date them to 1938; Dr. Bob said he had nothing to do with the writing, though he thought their long talks in 1935 must have influenced them.
- In Bill's 1957 account he wrote the first draft one night in bed at 182 Clinton Street, Brooklyn, in about half an hour, breaking the six-step word-of-mouth program into smaller pieces. They came to twelve.
- The draft was argued over for months. The words "a Power greater than ourselves," "God as we understood Him," and the line calling the Steps "suggested as a program of recovery" were compromises made with the atheist and agnostic members; "on our knees" was taken out of Step Seven. Bill says he doesn't know who first proposed the compromise words.
- The first draft itself is lost. The Big Book (1939) prints the finished Steps on pp. 59–60.

## What the Big Book shows (1939)

The Steps appear in Chapter 5, "How It Works," introduced as "the steps we took, which are suggested as a program of recovery" (p. 59). Right after them the book says no member has kept to them perfectly: "We are not saints." (p. 60). "The principles we have set down are guides to progress." (p. 60). The book doesn't tell how the Steps were written; that comes from later accounts. See *Where are the Twelve Steps in the Big Book?* and *Are the Steps rules or suggestions?*

## The co-founders date them to 1938

- **Dr. Bob, 1948** (his last major talk, printed in P-53): "It wasn't until 1938 that the teachings and efforts and studies that had been going on were crystallized in the form of the Twelve Steps." (P-53). "I didn't write the Twelve Steps. I had nothing to do with the writing of them." (P-53). But he and Bill had sat up night after night at his kitchen table in the summer of 1935, and he found it hard to believe nothing said there influenced the Steps (P-53).
- **Bill W., 1969** (his last major talk, in P-53): the Steps "were written in 1938" (P-53).

## Bill's account of the night (A.A. Comes of Age, 1957)

By the time Bill reached the fifth chapter he had drafted his own story and three more chapters, and the arguments over them had worn him out (A.A. Comes of Age, 1957). He lay in bed at 182 Clinton Street with pencil and scratch pad (A.A. Comes of Age, 1957). The program they had been passing on by word of mouth came to six steps (A.A. Comes of Age, 1957; see *What were the "six steps" used before the Twelve Steps?*), and he wanted something more explicit for distant readers, with no loophole "through which the rationalizing alcoholic could wiggle out" (A.A. Comes of Age, 1957).

"I set out to draft more than six steps; how many more I did not know." (A.A. Comes of Age, 1957). He asked for guidance, and "It took perhaps half an hour." (A.A. Comes of Age, 1957). When he numbered them, "They added up to twelve." (A.A. Comes of Age, 1957), a number he connected with the twelve apostles (A.A. Comes of Age, 1957).

That night two callers came, his friend Howard A. and a newcomer. (*Pass It On*, 1984, names the friend Horace C. and says Bill used "Howard A." in 1957 so as not to offend him; Pass It On, 1984.) They objected: "You've got too much God in these steps; you will scare people away." (A.A. Comes of Age, 1957), and they balked at getting drunks "on their knees" to ask for their shortcomings to be removed (A.A. Comes of Age, 1957).

## The arguments, and the compromise

In Akron, Bill says, members liked the new steps (A.A. Comes of Age, 1957). In New York there were three camps (A.A. Comes of Age, 1957):
- **Conservatives**, led by Fitz M., wanted a Christian book in Biblical language.
- **Liberals**, the largest group, had no objection to "God" but would have nothing to do with any other theological doctrine.
- **Radicals**, the atheists and agnostics led by Henry P. and Jim B., at first wanted "God" taken out entirely.

Bill asked to be the final judge of what the book said, and most agreed (A.A. Comes of Age, 1957). He refused to change a word of the Steps until, just before the manuscript was finished, a meeting in Henry's office in Newark arrived at a compromise; "Who first suggested the actual compromise words I do not know" (A.A. Comes of Age, 1957). The changes (A.A. Comes of Age, 1957):
- Step Two: God described as "a Power greater than ourselves."
- Steps Three and Eleven: the words "God as we understood Him" inserted.
- Step Seven: "on our knees" deleted.
- A lead-in sentence calling the Steps suggestions: "A.A.'s Twelve Steps were to be suggestions only." (A.A. Comes of Age, 1957)

Bill called this "the great contribution of our atheists and agnostics" (A.A. Comes of Age, 1957). Earlier in the same book he gives a shorter version: the expression "God as we understood Him" came out of the debate between Fitz on one side and Henry and Jimmy on the other (A.A. Comes of Age, 1957).

## Later accounts (1980, 1984)

- **Pass It On (1984)** says Bill began the book in March or April of 1938, and that Ruth Hock, who typed it, first saw an outline of the Steps in his notes (Pass It On, 1984). It says the first draft "has been lost" and prints only "an approximate reconstruction" (Pass It On, 1984), in which, for example, Step Two read that God could restore us to sanity and Step Seven had "on our knees" (Pass It On, 1984). It adds Ruth's memory of the debate: Fitz wanted "God" all the way, Bill was in the middle, Hank wanted very little, and the result was "God as we understood Him" (Pass It On, 1984). The original drafts were probably thrown out when the office moved in 1940 (Pass It On, 1984).
- **Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers (1980)** quotes an Akron member, Bob E.: in the first draft "people were to be on their knees when they surrendered. But the other drunks made Bill take it out." (Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers, 1980). The same book doubts Bill's claim that Akron supported the Steps better than New York, saying "Bill might have been assuming that his part of the stove was warmer" (Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers, 1980).

## Where the sources differ
- **When in 1938.** Both co-founders say 1938 (P-53). Bill's 1957 account ties the night to the fifth chapter and says the six steps were what they told newcomers "by the fall of 1938" (A.A. Comes of Age, 1957); the "Landmarks" timeline in our later printing of that book lists "Twelve Steps written" under December 1938 (A.A. Comes of Age, 1957). Our sources don't give an exact date.
- **Who shaped "God as we understood Him."** Bill (1957) credits the debate and says he doesn't know who first suggested the words (A.A. Comes of Age, 1957); Ruth Hock (in 1984) credits the same debate, with herself among those who wanted "very little" God (Pass It On, 1984).
- **The first draft's wording.** No copy survives in our sources; *Pass It On*'s version is labelled a reconstruction (Pass It On, 1984).

## Read it yourself
- Chapter 5, "How It Works" (pp. 58–71), free from A.A.: https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/en_bigbook_chapt5.pdf
- P-53, *The Co-Founders of Alcoholics Anonymous*: https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/literature/P-53_0725.pdf
- *A.A. Comes of Age*, *Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers* and *Pass It On* are sold by A.A. World Services: https://onlineliterature.aa.org
- Related: *What were the "six steps" used before the Twelve Steps?* · *Where are the Twelve Steps in the Big Book?* · *Are the Steps rules or suggestions?* · *Were the Traditions written with the Steps?*

## Sources
| Source | Pages | Date |
|---|---|---|
| *Alcoholics Anonymous*, Chapter 5, "How It Works" | 59–60 | 1939 |
| P-53, Dr. Bob's last major talk | — | December 1948; pamphlet © 2017 |
| P-53, Bill W.'s last major talk | — | October 1969; pamphlet © 2017 |
| *A.A. Comes of Age* | (timeline, later printing), 14, 78, 88–89, 91 | 1957 |
| *Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers* | — | 1980 |
| *Pass It On* | — | 1984 |

Big Book page numbers are from the fourth edition (2001).
*Recovery Starts is independent and not affiliated with Alcoholics Anonymous. Quotations are brief and cited; the Big Book, P-53,* A.A. Comes of Age, *Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers *and* Pass It On *are © A.A. World Services, Inc.; Dr. Bob's 1948 talk in P-53 is © AA Grapevine, Inc.*