<P> During the writing process, Jefferson showed the rough draft to Adams and Franklin, and perhaps to other members of the drafting committee, who made a few more changes . Franklin, for example, may have been responsible for changing Jefferson's original phrase "We hold these truths to be sacred and undeniable" to "We hold these truths to be self - evident". Jefferson incorporated these changes into a copy that was submitted to Congress in the name of the committee . The copy that was submitted to Congress on June 28 has been lost, and was perhaps destroyed in the printing process, or destroyed during the debates in accordance with Congress's secrecy rule . </P> <P> On April 21, 2017 it was announced that a second engrossed copy had been discovered in an archive in Sussex, England . Named by its finders the "Sussex Declaration", it differs from the National Archives copy (which the finders refer to as the "Matlack Declaration") in that the signatures on it are not grouped by States . How it came to be in England is not yet known, but the finders believe that the randomness of the signatures points to an origin with signatory James Wilson, who had argued strongly that the Declaration was made not by the States but by the whole people . </P> <P> The Declaration was neglected in the years immediately following the American Revolution, having served its original purpose in announcing the independence of the United States . Early celebrations of Independence Day largely ignored the Declaration, as did early histories of the Revolution . The act of declaring independence was considered important, whereas the text announcing that act attracted little attention . The Declaration was rarely mentioned during the debates about the United States Constitution, and its language was not incorporated into that document . George Mason's draft of the Virginia Declaration of Rights was more influential, and its language was echoed in state constitutions and state bills of rights more often than Jefferson's words . "In none of these documents", wrote Pauline Maier, "is there any evidence whatsoever that the Declaration of Independence lived in men's minds as a classic statement of American political principles ." </P> <P> Many leaders of the French Revolution admired the Declaration of Independence but were also interested in the new American state constitutions . The inspiration and content of the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen (1789) emerged largely from the ideals of the American Revolution . Its key drafts were prepared by Lafayette, working closely in Paris with his friend Thomas Jefferson . It also borrowed language from George Mason's Virginia Declaration of Rights . The declaration also influenced the Russian Empire . The document had a particular impact on the Decembrist revolt and other Russian thinkers . </P>

What came first the constitution or the declaration of independence