Yes, abolition ideals were indeed present in the colonies during the American Revolution. These ideals were much more present in the North than in the South.
As many experts believe, some of the founding fathers had abolitionist ideas, while others had slaves themselves. In the US Constitution, the 3/5ths compromise (which is sometimes misinterpreted), is an early effort to try to solve the problem of slavery in America. It only counted 3/5ths of the total slave population when considering the number of political representatives; this was an abolitionist idea to try to tackle such a fundamental issue (America was becoming more and more divided on slavery) and also to prevent the South from using slaves to gain more representation (without giving slaves freedom, or any representation at all), and thus, preserving slavery for more time.
