Of course, you can set any standard you wish for our Founders & ancestors.
You might even say that Jesus Christ Himself didn't meet your high moral standards, because, for example, he refused to condemn a woman caught in adultery!
That's some serious virtue signaling.
But if you cared for our Founders in the least, then you'd notice that their standards did not include immediate abolition, but rather gradual abolition over decades and that is exactly what they accomplished in the North, and what Southern leaders like Thomas Jefferson intended for the South.
It's only when the next generation, after the Founders' deaths, began reneging on those promises in Virginia, around 1830, that slavery came to dominate US political issues.
I think the requirement that they actually do the hard part of what they say they are going to do is a pretty low standard.
It's like balancing the budget. They always talk about doing it sometime in the future, but they are never willing to do the budget cuts in the here and the now.
Politicians will always try to weasel out of the tough parts of any position.
Founders in the least, then you'd notice that their standards did not include immediate abolition, but rather gradual abolition over decades...
Fine, but you don't get to call yourself a "free" state until you are actually free. You don't get to count abolition from the day you passed laws to eventually do away with it, you must count abolition from the time you actually abolished it.
You speak of "virtue signaling", well that is exactly what they did. They signaled their virtuous *INTENT*, but deferred all the hard decisions into the future.
At least with loony toons Massachusetts, they actually abolished it immediately. They didn't put it off for years or decades just to appease some people.