At the time, the written Declaration of Independence wasn’t considered to be very important. The Lee Resolution, passed by the Continental Congress on July 2, 1776, was the actual, official “declaration” of the colonies’ independence from England. In fact, John Adams gave the task of writing the formal Declaration to his junior, Thomas Jefferson, as he felt that few would remember the document or its author.
Adams, of course, was quite wrong. Although none of Jefferson’s text was original or ea