- 1706 , Jan. 17 Born, Boston, Mass.
- 1718 - 1723 Apprenticed as a printer to his brother James Franklin
- 1725 - 1726 Journeyman printer, London, England
- 1727 Founded the Junta, a debating club, Philadelphia, Pa.
- 1728 Wrote Articles of Belief and Acts of Religion
- 1729 Purchased Pennsylvania Gazette
- 1730 Married Deborah Read Rogers (died 1774)
- 1731 Established the Library Company of Philadelphia, Pa.
- 1732 - 1758 Published Poor Richard, 1732-1747, and Poor Richard Improved,
- 1748-1758, commonly known under collective title Poor Richard's Almanack
- 1736 - 1751 Clerk, Pennsylvania Assembly
- 1740 Invented the Pennsylvania fireplace (Franklin stove)
- 1743 Proposed formation of the American Philosophical Society
- 1751 Founded with others, the Academy for Education of Youth -now University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa.[/br] Founded Philadelphia City Hospital, Philadelphia, Pa.[/br] Published letters to Peter Collinson, Experiments and Observations on Electricity. London: Printed and Sold by E. Cave
- 1751 - 1764 Represented Philadelphia at the Pennsylvania Assembly
- 1754 Represented Pennsylvania at the Albany Congress
- 1757 - 1762 Political agent of the Pennsylvania Assembly, London, England
- 1766 Reappointed as agent for Pennsylvania, London, England
- 1771 Began autobiography
- 1775 Left London, England, for Massachusetts
Elected member of the Second Continental Congress Named postmaster general - 1776 Served on committee to draft the Declaration of Independence
Went to France as one of three American commissioners to negotiate a treaty - 1778 Negotiated treaties of commerce and defense with France Appointed sole plenipotentiary in France
- 1781 Appointed with John Jay and John Adams to negotiate a peace with Great Britain
- 1783 Signed Treaty of Paris with Great Britain and asked Congress for his recall
- 1785 Returned to the United States
- 1785 - 1788 President, Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania
- 1787 Represented Pennsylvania at the Constitutional Convention
- 1790 Signed memorial to Congress as last official act as president of the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery
- 1790 , Apr. 17 Died, Philadelphia, Pa.
