| 1706 | Franklin born in Boston, Massachusetts, on January 17 | |
| 1718 | Begins an apprenticeship in his brother’s printing shop | |
| 1723 | Runs away to Philadelphia | |
| 1724 | Moves to London and continues his training as a printer | |
| 1726 | Founds the Leather Apron Club, later known as the Junto | |
| 1727 | Returns to Philadelphia | |
| 1728 | Opens his own printing shop in Philadelphia | |
| 1729 | Becomes publisher of the Pennsylvania Gazette | |
| 1730 | Married by common law Deborah Read | |
| 1731 | Founds the first circulating library | |
| 1732 | Begins publishing Poor Richard: An Almanack | |
| 1736 | Founds the Union Fire Company | |
| 1743 | Birth of his daughter, Sarah (Sally) | |
| 1748 | Retires from business | |
| 1751 | His book, Experiments and Observations on Electricity, is published in London Founds the Pennsylvania Academy, later known as the University of Pennsylvania | |
| 1752 | Famous kite experiment proves lightning is electricity | |
| 1757–62 | In London as agent for the colony of Pennsylvania | |
| 1762 | Returns to Philadelphia | |
| 1764 | Back in London | |
| 1774 | The Hutchinson Letters Affair damages Franklin’s reputation | |
| 1775 | Back in Philadelphia; serves in Second Continental Congress | |
| 1776 | Signs the Declaration of Independence Serves as president of Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention Becomes American commissioner to France | |
| 1778 | Negotiates Treaty of Alliance with France Appointed sole minister plenipotentiary to France | |
| 1782 | Helps negotiate Treaty of Peace with Great Britain; final treaty signed September 1783 | |
| 1783 | Witnesses the first hot-air balloon flights in Paris | |
| 1785 | Returns to Philadelphia | |
| 1787 | Elected president of the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery and the Relief of Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage Serves as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention | |
| 1790 | Dies on April 17 at age 84 |