| 1706 | Benjamin Franklin is born on January 17 in Boston, Massachusetts, to Josiah and Abiah Franklin. |
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| 1718 | Franklin is apprenticed to his brother James, a printer and publisher. |
| 1723 | Franklin runs away to Philadelphia and works as a printer. |
| 1729 | Franklin buys the Pennsylvania Gazette, a newspaper that he turns into a successful publication. |
| 1730 | Franklin marries Deborah Read, with whom he has three children. |
| 1731 | Franklin founds the Library Company of Philadelphia, the first public lending library in America. |
| 1733 | Franklin begins publishing Poor Richard’s Almanack, an annual publication featuring weather forecasts, proverbs, and other useful information. |
| 1741 | Franklin invents the Franklin stove, a more efficient heating device for homes. |
| 1747 | Franklin begins his experiments with electricity. |
| 1751 | Franklin helps establish the Pennsylvania Hospital, the first public hospital in the American colonies. |
| 1752 | Franklin conducts his famous kite experiment, proving that lightning is electricity. |
| 1753 | Franklin is appointed as Deputy Postmaster General for the American colonies. |
| 1754 | Franklin proposes the Albany Plan of Union, an early attempt to unify the American colonies under a single government. |
| 1764 | Franklin is elected to the Pennsylvania Assembly and is sent to England as a colonial agent, representing Pennsylvania’s interests. |
| 1775 | Franklin returns to America and is elected to the Second Continental Congress. He becomes a member of the Committee of Five, responsible for drafting the Declaration of Independence. |
| 1776 | Franklin signs the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, along with other members of the Continental Congress. |
| 1776-1785 | Franklin serves as the United States Ambassador to France, where he helps secure French support for the American Revolution and negotiates the Treaty of Paris, which ends the war. |
| 1787 | Franklin participates in the Constitutional Convention, which drafts the United States Constitution. He is the oldest delegate in attendance. |
| 1790 | Benjamin Franklin dies in Philadelphia at the age of 84. |