Benjamin Franklin: A Film by Ken Burns

Season 1

Ken Burns’s four-hour documentary, Benjamin Franklin, explores the revolutionary life of one of the 18th century’s most consequential and compelling personalities, whose work and words unlocked the mystery of electricity and helped create the United States. “Write things worth reading,” he said in Poor Richard’s Almanack, “or do things worth the writing.” Benjamin Franklin did both.

20222 episodesX-RayUHD16+

Documentary

Free trial of PBS Documentaries or buy

Terms apply

Prime membership required

Save on each episode with a TV Season Pass. Get current episodes now and future ones when available.

S1 E1 - “Join or Die” (1706-1774)
April 3, 2022
1 h 53 min
13+
Leaving behind his Boston childhood, Benjamin Franklin reinvents himself in Philadelphia where he builds a printing empire and a new life with his wife Deborah. Turning to science, Franklin gains worldwide fame from his lightning rod and experiments in electricity. After entering politics, he spends years in London trying to keep Britain and America together as his own family starts to come apart.
Free trial of PBS Documentaries or buy
S1 E2 - “An American” (1775-1790)
April 4, 2022
1 h 53 min
TV-14
Benjamin Franklin leaves London and returns to wartime Philadelphia where he joins Congress and helps Thomas Jefferson craft the Declaration of Independence. In Paris, he wins French support for the American Revolution then negotiates a peace treaty with Britain. He spends his last years in the new United States, working on the Constitution and unsuccessfully promoting the abolition of slavery.
Free trial of PBS Documentaries or buy