1768. Preface to _Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania_ (J. Dickinson). _A Scheme for a New Alphabet and Reformed Mode of Spelling._ _Causes of the American Discontents before 1768._ _Art of Swimming._ Appointed London agent for colony of Georgia. 1769. Visits France (July-August). Appointed New Jersey agent in London. Elected first president of the American Philosophical Society. 1770. Appointed London agent for Massachusetts Assembly. 1771. Begins _Autobiography_ (from 1706 to 1731) while visiting the Bishop of St. Asaph at Twyford. Three-months' tour of Ireland and Scotland. Entertained by Hume and Lord Kames. Chosen corresponding member of Learned Society of Sciences, Rotterdam. 1772. Chosen foreign member of Royal Academy of Sciences of Paris. 1773. _Abridgement of the Book of Common Prayer_ (with Sir Francis Dashwood). _Rules by Which a Great Empire May Be Reduced to a Small One._ M. Barbeu Dubourg's edition of _Œuvres de M. Franklin_. Sends Hutchinson-Oliver letters to Massachusetts. 1774. Examined by Wedderburn before the Privy Council (January 29) in regard to the Hutchinson-Oliver correspondence. Contributes notes to George Whately's second edition of _Principles of Trade_. Dismissed as deputy postmaster general of North America. Deborah Franklin dies December 19. 1775. First postmaster general under Confederation. Returns to America in May. Member of Philadelphia Committee of Safety. Chosen a delegate to second Continental Congress. _An Account of Negotiations in London for Effecting a Reconciliation between Great Britain and the American Colonies._ Appointed member of Committee of Secret Correspondence. 1776. A commissioner to Canada. Presides over Constitutional Convention of Pennsylvania. Appointed one of committee to frame Declaration of Independence. In September appointed one of three commissioners from Congress to the French court. Leaves Philadelphia October 27; reaches Paris December 21. 1777. Elected member of Loge des Neuf Sœurs. Chosen associate member of Royal Medical Society of Paris. 1778. Assists at initiation of Voltaire in Loge des Neuf Sœurs. Officiates at Masonic funeral service of Voltaire. Signs commercial treaty and alliance for mutual defense with France. _The Ephemera._ Altercation with Arthur Lee. 1779. Minister plenipotentiary to French court. _The Whistle._ _Morals of Chess._ B. Vaughan edits Franklin's _Political, Miscellaneous, and Philosophical Pieces_. 1780. _Dialogue between Franklin and the Gout._