Where does "I am responsible…" (the Responsibility Declaration) come from?
In short:
- It isn't in the Big Book. The Declaration dates from A.A.'s 30th Anniversary International Convention in Toronto, July 1965, twenty-six years after the book: a chronology added to a later printing of A.A. Comes of Age calls it "the keynote of this gathering" (A.A. Comes of Age, later-printing chronology), and Pass It On (1984) calls it "the Responsibility Declaration" and says it was adopted at the International Convention in 1965 (Pass It On, 1984).
- The text as A.A. prints it: "I am responsible… When anyone, anywhere, reaches out for help, I want the hand of A.A. always to be there. And for that: I am responsible." It appears on the back pages of P-8, P-16, P-17, P-44 and P-53, inside P-43, and in the front matter of the A.A. Service Manual, in most of them beside the Declaration of Unity.
- None of the books in our sources say who wrote it. Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers (1980) says the Toronto crowd "joined in saying" it; Pass It On says it was "adopted." What it declares, that A.A. must be there for the next alcoholic, is in the Big Book in other words: "Our very lives, as ex-problem drinkers, depend upon our constant thought of others" (p. 20).
What the search found
Our sources were searched for "I am responsible," "anyone, anywhere," "hand of A.A." and "Declaration." The Declaration is in no part of the Big Book: not pp. 1–164, not the appendices, not the stories. Where "responsible" appears in the main text it is the ordinary word, as in "our own actions are partly responsible" (p. 83) or an employer letting a man "feel fully responsible" (p. 143). The Declaration is found only in books and pamphlets printed after 1965.
Where it comes from, as the books tell it
The 1965 Convention. A.A. Comes of Age was published in 1957, before the Declaration existed; the copy in our sources carries a chronology that runs past 1957 and so was added to a later printing. Its entry for 1965 reads: "30th Anniversary Convention in Toronto, Canada, in July. Attendance 10,000 plus." (A.A. Comes of Age, later-printing chronology), and it calls the Declaration, "later so widely used," "the keynote of this gathering" (A.A. Comes of Age, later-printing chronology). Because the chronology post-dates the book, it is dated here as a later addition, not 1957.
Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers (1980) opens with a photograph caption: "Thirty years after two alcoholics met in Akron, this huge throng at the A.A. International Convention in Toronto, Ontario, joined in saying words that sum up the spirit behind the worldwide growth of A.A., before and since" (Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers, 1980), followed by the Declaration.
Pass It On (1984) mentions it in passing, while telling of Bill's and Dr. Bob's 1937 wish to carry the message to distant cities: their resolve "anticipated by 28 years the Responsibility Declaration" adopted at the International Convention in 1965 (Pass It On, 1984). It is the one place in our sources that says it was "adopted"; the name "Responsibility Declaration" is also used in The A.A. Group, which says many meetings close by "reciting the Responsibility Declaration or other A.A. text" (P-16, 2018).
Who wrote it. None of these sources say. The chronology says it was the keynote of the Convention; Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers says the crowd said it together; Pass It On says it was adopted. If a reader has been told an author's name, it didn't come from the books in our sources.
Where A.A. prints it now
The Declaration is on the back page of the pamphlets Twelve Concepts Illustrated (P-8), The A.A. Group (P-16), A.A. Tradition — How It Developed (P-17), A.A.'s Legacy of Service (P-44) and The Co-Founders of Alcoholics Anonymous (P-53), and in the front matter of the A.A. Service Manual. In P-8, P-16, P-17, P-53 and the Service Manual it is printed with "A Declaration of Unity"; P-44's back page has it alone, and The Twelve Traditions Illustrated (P-43) has it inside the pamphlet, with the Declaration of Unity on its last page ("This we owe to A.A.'s future: To place our common welfare first; to keep our fellowship united…"). Most of these printings have an ellipsis after the opening "I am responsible" (P-43 has a plain period) and the colon in "And for that: I am responsible."
Two pamphlets use it in their text. The A.A. Group (P-16) opens the section "What Do A.A. Group Members Do?" with the Declaration and draws this from it: "when newcomers walk into our meeting rooms, we want A.A. to be there for them as it was for us — something we can do continuously only if we function as a group" (P-16, 2018). The Twelve Traditions Illustrated (P-43) sets it beside the Fourth and Fifth Traditions, among cartoon groups shouting "HELP! HELP! HELP!" (P-43, 1971).
What the Big Book says in its own words
The Declaration isn't program text, and nothing in the Steps or the Long Form of the Traditions depends on it. But the idea it puts in one sentence is in the book from the start. Chapter 2: "Our very lives, as ex-problem drinkers, depend upon our constant thought of others and how we may help meet their needs." (p. 20). Chapter 7: "Helping others is the foundation stone of your recovery." (p. 97), and "You have to act the Good Samaritan every day, if need be." (p. 97). The Fifth Tradition in the Long Form gives each group "but one primary purpose—that of carrying its message to the alcoholic who still suffers" (p. 563). The 1965 Declaration adds the words "anyone, anywhere," and the pledge in the first person; it doesn't add a new duty. See: What does Step 12 really say? and Tradition Five: what is a group's one purpose?
Read it yourself
- Chapter 2, "There Is a Solution" (p. 20): https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/en_bigbook_chapt2.pdf
- Chapter 7, "Working With Others" (p. 97): https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/en_bigbook_chapt7.pdf
- Appendix I, the Traditions, Long Form (pp. 563–566): https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/en_bigbook_appendicei.pdf
- The pamphlets P-16, P-43 and P-44 are free on aa.org; the history books are at the bookstore: https://onlineliterature.aa.org
Sources
| Source | Pages | Date |
|---|---|---|
| All our sources (searched): Big Book, pamphlets, history, stories, service | — | various |
| Alcoholics Anonymous, Chapters 2, 6, 7, 10; Appendix I | 20, 83, 97, 143, 563 | 1939; Long Form 1946 |
| A.A. Comes of Age, chronology (added to a later printing; the book is 1957) | — | after 1965 |
| Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers | — | 1980 |
| Pass It On | — | 1984 |
| The A.A. Group (P-16) | "What Do A.A. Group Members Do?"; back page | 2018 |
| The Twelve Traditions Illustrated (P-43) | Traditions Four–Five | 1971 |
| P-8, P-17, P-44, P-53; A.A. Service Manual | back page; front matter | various |
Recovery Starts is independent and not affiliated with Alcoholics Anonymous. Quotations are brief and cited; the Big Book is © A.A. World Services, Inc.
These pages answer questions about A.A. from A.A.'s own published literature, read in full, with every quote checked word for word against the page it cites. Recovery Starts is independent and not affiliated with Alcoholics Anonymous. What we read, and when each source was written.