Where did the Twelve Steps come from?

A.A. was founded in 1935 at Akron, Ohio, as the result of a meeting between Dr. Bob S., an Akron surgeon, and Bill W., a New York stockbroker. Both were hopeless alcoholics. Before that time, Dr. Bob and Bill had working with the Oxford Group, a nonalcoholic fellowship that focused on universal spiritual values in daily living. Through this spiritual influence, and with the help of a friend, Ebby T., Bill had been sober and maintained his recovery by working with other alcoholics, although none of them had actually recovered from alcoholism.