No Founder advocated an unlimited "right to secede" in 1776 or 1788 or later.
All believed independence could only legitimately come in two forms:
x: "Pennsylvania committed itself to the abolition of slavery in 1780."
DiogenesLamp: "But didn't actually do it until 1840.
There were still 64 slaves listed in Pennsylvania until then."
For comparison: between 1790 and 1840 the number of slaves in Virginia increased by 2/3 to 450,000 and in South Carolina by 375% to 327,000.
In Pennsylvania the number of African Americans increased by 500% to 50,000 from 1790 to 1840, but the number who remained slaves fell from 36% in 1790 to less than one tenth of one percent in 1840, none thereafter.
Finally, mentioning an old debate in passing: in the 1790s, while Philadelphia was the US capital, politicians like President Washington were forced to rotate their slaves frequently, to avoid running afoul of Pennsylvania's abolition laws.
DiogenesLamp: "Having judges impose it on the rest of the state hardly constitutes a conscious decision on the part of the people."
There is no record of serious objections to abolition in Massachusetts.
The Massachusetts census recorded only one slave from 1790 to 1830 (in 1830) and none thereafter.
Massachusetts had about 10,000 freed blacks in 1840.
x: "It wasn't clear to everyone in the Revolutionary era that independence would mean the continuation of slavery."
DiogenesLamp: "It was very clear.
In fact it was so clear, the Founders enacted a clause in the constitution that directly deals with it."
x is correct on this.
Most Founders, including Southerners like Washington, Jefferson and Madison, understood that slavery was evil and should be eventually abolished.
Northern Founders like Franklin and Adams soon began work to abolish slavery in their own states.
By the time of the Constitution in 1787, Washington himself said that if he had to chose between union and slavery, he would chose union.
But by 1787 other Southerners made clear that without slavery, there could be no Union, and so their demands were included in the new Constitution.
Still, leaders like Thomas Jefferson continued to design methods where the Federal government would purchase freedom for slaves and provide transportation back to Africa, or elsewhere.
All such plans came to nothing because slave-holders would have none of it.
Bottom line: unlike 1860 Fire Eater secessionists, our Founders in 1776 considered slavery an evil which should be eventually abolished.
DiogenesLamp: "I am presenting you with the UGLY parts of History.
You may not like them, but they are accurate."
No, ugly or not, most of what DiogenesLamp argues is pure rubbish and nonsense.
Not going to bother with you. You have achieved “out there” status, and it is not worth my trouble to argue with a religious nut.