THE RESTORATION MOVEMENT.

The term "Restoration Movement" became popular during the 19th century due to the influence of Alexander Campbell's essays on "A Restoration of the Ancient Order of Things" in the church.

Alexander was educated at the University of Glasgow, the 4th oldest university in the English speaking world and one of Scotland's four ancient universities, being founded in 1451. Along with the University of Edin'Burgh, Glasgow was part of the Scottish Enlightenment during the 18th century. Sharing the humanist and rationalist outlook of the European Enlightenment of the same period, the ones behind of the Scottish Enlightenment asserted the importance of human reason combined with a rejection of any authority that was not in tune with their creed.

The Neo-Trophians, a literary secret society, at Bethany College, a private, liberal arts college in Bethany, West Virginia, was formed by Alexander Campbell in 1840. They came to be known on the campus only by the Greek letters Delta Tau Delta. Then they founded an Fraternity organization based on their common aims and brotherly regard about the principles of Truth, Courage, Faith, and Power.

Since 1858, the Fraternity has spread to nearly 200 campuses, with more than 130 active chapters and colonies of about 10,000 students. More than 170,000 men have joined the brotherhood since its founding.

Alexander Campbell (12 September,1788 - 4 March,1866) was a Scots-Irish immigrant. He became an "ordained minister" and joined his father Thomas Campbell as a leader of a reform effort known as the Restoration Movement, or Campbellism. 

The pioneers of the movement were seeking to reform the church from within and sought the unification of all the congregations into a single body with the creed. It began on the United States during a Protestant revival around 1790. The Protestant revival gained a momentum by 1800 and, after 1820, membership rose rapidly among Baptist and Methodist congregations whose preachers led the revival. 

Two groups independently developed similar ideas and were particularly important. The first led by Barton W Stone, began at Cane Ridge, Kentucky, and identified themselves as "Christians." The second began in Western Pennsylvania and Virginia (now West Virginia) and was led by Thomas Campbell and his son Alexander Campbell, both educated in Scotland; they eventually used the name "Disciples of Christ." Both groups sought to restore the organization of the Protestant church on the pattern set forth by the shared beliefs and in the form of a fixed formula. In 1832 both groups joined in fellowship with a handshake. Among other things, they were united in promoting the belief of Jesus Christ, then that Christians should celebrate the Lord's Supper on the first day of each week; and then the creed that only baptism by immersion in water is a necessary condition for salvation. Because the founders wanted to abandon all distinct religious bodies or denominational labels, they used the names that appear in the Scripture for the followers of Jesus. Both groups wanted to promote a return to the way in which the 1st-century churches operated, according to the creed of the restoration movement.

Because the Restoration Movement lacked any centralized structure, and having being originated in a variety of places with different leaders with no consistent nomenclature as a whole, then it has since divided into multiple separate groups.