In 1776 the constitution in PA, like in many of the colonies, had to be quickly written to solve a major problem: there was no governor. In the 17th. c. there had been a variety of colonial franchises- Massachusetts Boston Bay colony appointed its own governor, Pennsylvania had an owner, a proprietor; William Penn, who acted as governor. These franchises had all become royal colonies by mid 18th c., with the governor appointed by the King. The governor in many ways acted as a kind of royal presence- a new governor would, typically , be given a parade on his arrival to the colony, and installed with lot of pomp and ceremony. He was a very powerful person, could act as the chief executive- importantly, he could call up the militias and wage war. Or put down a revolt: and it was in the process of trying to put down the revolt in 1776 that most royal governors got run out of their colonies ( Virginia's actually tried to run things from a ship offshore, briefly, but that's beside the point).

The 1776 PA constitution had to create something to fill that position of chief executive. Instead of a governor, it created an Executive Council, with the President of it acting essentially as governor. However, some other very surprising things were written into it, democratic concessions like, as you note- any man could vote, regardless of whether he owned property. You can see these as appealing to the common man, at a time when a lot of common men were needed to support the revolt- Pennsylvania would both contribute plenty of soldiers to the Continental Army and see plenty of fighting within its borders, so likely that was a sensible thing to do. After the Treaty of Versailles ended the revolt in 1783, however, the focus was able to shift , as we often say "from a fight over home rule, to a fight over who rules at home". Under the Articles of Confederation a lot of aspects of the wartime governments were rolled back as being too radical. The elites that had dominated the colonial legislatures and then the Continental Congress had become apprehensive about the dangers of Mob Rule, especially after Shays' Rebellion showed them what a collection of ex-soldiers could do if roused to take up their muskets again.

Ben Franklin's feelings on the matter were likely mixed. He had returned from France in 1785 hoping to at last retire only to find he'd been appointed President of the Executive Council. He obediently but unwillingly served as governor for three terms. Any spare energies he had in his last few years were devoted to trying to end slavery in the US, as the Constitution was negotiated and the new Federal government worked out.