An immersive 5-day sequence for 10th-grade US History exploring the socio-economic, political, and cultural rifts between Great Britain and the American colonies. Students engage in primary source analysis, roleplay simulations, and graphic mapping to trace the path from the Seven Years' War to the Boston Massacre.
Public Position: The Ohio Country belongs to King George II by Royal Charter and must be settled immediately.
Secret Objectives: Secure signatures from the Haudenosaunee confirming British land sale; build Fort Prince George at the Forks.
Negotiation Strategy: Offer cheaper manufactured goods and protection from the French in exchange for colonial borders.
Cut along dotted line Alliance & Ambush
Faction B
French Fur Traders
"Our empire is built on the global fur market, not clear-cutting forests. We must keep English settlers from ruining the ecological balance."
Public Position: The Ohio River Valley is part of New France and vital to French commerce with native allies.
Secret Objectives: Establish military forts along the river to block English expansion; recruit Delaware warriors as skirmishers.
Negotiation Strategy: Warn native groups that the English intend to clear-cut and steal their hunting grounds forever.
Cut along dotted line Alliance & Ambush
Faction C
Haudenosaunee Council
"We represent the Six Nations Confederacy. We claim sovereignty over the Ohio Country and seek to play France against Britain."
Public Position: No European settlements can occur in our territories without Council consent.
Secret Objectives: Assert control over local tribes (Delaware/Shawnee); leverage British dependency to gain trade monopolies.
Negotiation Strategy: Keep both parties talking. Do not commit troops unless one party overpowers the other.
Cut along dotted line Alliance & Ambush
Faction D
Delaware & Shawnee Nations
"The Haudenosaunee claim to speak for us, but we live here. We have already been pushed off our land in Pennsylvania and will yield no more."
Public Position: We will fight any power that seeks to establish a permanent military fort on our lands.
Secret Objectives: Sidestep Haudenosaunee authority; secure French gunpowder to defend against English settlers.
Negotiation Strategy: Play French fur traders against the English, demanding respect for sovereign boundaries.
Cut along dotted line Alliance & Ambush
Alliance & Ambush Simulation Guide Page 2 of 2
Prompt (For your final letter):
Imperial Fracture Unit • Day 2 Portfolio Page 2 of 2
Public Position: The law is absolute. Anyone crossing the Appalachian crest line without a royal pass will be arrested.
Secret Objectives: Avoid any physical skirmishes with Native scouts; prevent expensive military reinforcements from being called.
Negotiation Strategy: Demand colonial obedience but recognize you lack the sheer numbers to police everyone. Seek compliance.
Cut along dotted line The Forest Guard
Speculator
Colonial Land Surveyors
"We represent wealthy Virginia investors who funded the war. The crown promised us these rich lands as returns on our investment."
Public Position: The King's boundary violates our charter rights and locks up wealth we fought and bled for.
Secret Objectives: Sneak surveyor tools across the line to chart territory for future sale; cultivate influence with British guard leaders.
Negotiation Strategy: Offer financial kickbacks, land promises, or colonial political support to the officers to bypass patrols.
Cut along dotted line The Forest Guard
Squatter
Colonial Frontier Squatters
"We are poor families with nothing. The coast is overcrowded and too expensive. The west is our only hope for a self-sufficient life."
Public Position: God gave this land to those who clear and cultivate it, not royal titles or empires.
Secret Objectives: Bypass the checkpoints unnoticed; build cabins in the valleys and refuse to leave.
Negotiation Strategy: Appeal to the officers' morals and shared ancestry. Explain that turning you back is a death sentence.
Cut along dotted line The Forest Guard
Native Scout
Native Border Scouts
"The Crown signed a treaty at Fort Pitt promising that the mountains would remain the western boundary. We will defend our villages."
Public Position: The white settlers must be evicted immediately. Colonial settlement is an act of war.
Secret Objectives: Force the British military to act as an active buffer; identify and report hidden surveyor markers.
Negotiation Strategy: Remind British officers that colonial trespassing violates royal law and will provoke a combined tribal uprising.
Cut along dotted line The Forest Guard
Proclamation Line Simulation Guide Page 2 of 2
SUMMATIVE PORTFOLIO BUILDER
Scaffolding your 1776 Delegate Letter
Prompt (For your final letter): When drafting your letter to Congress, how will you contrast the British theory of "Virtual Representation" with the actual representation colonists deserve, citing the Stamp Act crisis as the breaking point?
Imperial Fracture Unit • Day 3 Portfolio Page 2 of 2
Public Position: The Stamp Act is an economic disaster that destroys British commercial interests to collect tiny tax revenues.
Secret Objectives: Force Parliament to repeal the tax instantly; secure colonial merchant shipping commitments.
Negotiation Strategy: Team up with Colonial Merchants. Lobby Parliamentary Commissioners by demonstrating massive British job losses.
Cut along dotted line Boycott Boardroom
Colonial Merchant
Boston Import Merchants
"We signed non-importation agreements, but our businesses are bleeding. If we violate the boycott, patriot crowds will destroy our houses."
Public Position: We will not import a single British product until Parliament repeals the unconstitutional tax.
Secret Objectives: Secure the repeal of the Stamp Act so we can resume highly profitable legal trade; prevent internal colonial anarchy.
Negotiation Strategy: Show British manufacturers how to use political leverage in London. Pressure the Board of Trade with hard trade figures.
Cut along dotted line Boycott Boardroom
Tax Commission
Board of Trade Commissioners
"We represent the authority of King and Parliament. If we back down to colonial threats, we compromise the supremacy of the British Crown."
Public Position: Parliament has the absolute constitutional authority to tax all subjects of the empire, virtual or physical.
Secret Objectives: Find ways to raise revenue to pay off the staggering war debt without provoking complete armed rebellion.
Negotiation Strategy: Offer to repeal the Stamp Act ONLY if colonists agree that Parliament retains the theoretical right to tax them in the future.
Cut along dotted line Boycott Boardroom
Patriot Artisan
Homespun Activists
"We weave local woolen cloth and make custom shoes. This boycott is our golden opportunity to break dependence on British luxury."
Public Position: True patriots wear homespun clothing, drink local herbal tea, and reject corrupt British imports.
Secret Objectives: Build permanent local manufacturing industries; intimidate wealthy merchants who want to break the boycott.
Negotiation Strategy: Show off domestic textile quality. Emphasize that the colonies are economically self-reliant and cannot be bullied.
Cut along dotted line Boycott Boardroom
Boycott Boardroom Simulation Guide Page 2 of 2
SUMMATIVE PORTFOLIO BUILDER
Scaffolding your 1776 Delegate Letter
Prompt (For your final letter): In your future letter to Congress, you must justify the colonial right to revolt. How will you defend the actions of the Sons of Liberty (such as committees of correspondence and boycotts) as necessary, defensive measures against crown overreach?
Imperial Fracture Unit • Day 4 Portfolio Page 2 of 2
"My printing press is the voice of this resistance. I print weekly broadsides exposing the corruption of British customs officers."
Public Position: The pen is a weapon of liberty! All colonists must organize and resist the tyranny of the Townshend Duties.
Secret Objectives: Recruit the moderate blacksmith to help enforce boycotts; write broadsides that make neutrality impossible.
Negotiation Strategy: Emphasize colonial solidarity. Use highly charged moral language ("liberty," "slavery," "honorable ancestors") to sway others.
Cut along dotted line Liberty Tree
Loyalist Trader
Loyalist Importers
"We have worked for decades to build a prosperous trade. This 'Sons of Liberty' mob is destroying our properties and threatening our families."
Public Position: The laws of King and Parliament must be obeyed. Rioting in the streets leads to absolute lawlessness.
Secret Objectives: Persuade the royal governor to send more military regulars to guard loyalist shops; avoid getting tarred and feathered.
Negotiation Strategy: Warn moderate blacksmiths of the sheer chaos and ruin that mob rule brings. Argue that boycotts will bankrupt the town.
Cut along dotted line Liberty Tree
Crown Officer
Royal Customs Collector
"I am charged by His Majesty to collect duties on paper, glass, and tea. Colonists are smuggling goods in broad daylight and abusing my officers."
Public Position: Trespassers and smugglers are criminals. Any colonist who physically threatens crown officers will face the gallows.
Secret Objectives: Identify the printers who produce illegal, seditious broadsides; secure high-level conviction warrants.
Negotiation Strategy: Threaten smugglers and their supporters with direct naval blockades and trial in royal admiralty courts.
Cut along dotted line Liberty Tree
Moderate Smith
Moderate Town Blacksmith
"I hammer iron for both loyalist carriages and patriot plows. I hate these new taxes, but I also hate the violent riots."
Public Position: I want a quiet life and a steady trade. I am loyal to the King but stand for the rights of my neighbors.
Secret Objectives: Avoid choosing sides until it is absolutely necessary; secure blacksmithing contracts from whoever holds power.
Negotiation Strategy: Demand safety guarantees from the Patriots. Demand that Crown officers stop seizing local merchant ships.
Cut along dotted line Liberty Tree
Liberty Tree Simulation Guide Page 2 of 2
SUMMATIVE PORTFOLIO BUILDER
Scaffolding your 1776 Delegate Letter
Prompt (For your final letter): Your final letter must detail the crown's ultimate abuses of military force. How will you frame the Boston Massacre of 1770 as definitive proof that standing armies in colonial cities will inevitably result in tyranny and bloodshed?
Imperial Fracture Unit • Day 5 Portfolio Page 2 of 2
Secret Objectives: Prove that the soldiers fired in self-defense due to a hostile mob; prevent Boston from slipping into total lawlessness.
Negotiation Strategy: Focus on cross-examining witnesses. Expose contradictions in their claims of a peaceful, orderly crowd.
Cut along dotted line Bloody Boston
Defendant
Captain Preston (Accused)
"I stood in front of my men. I did not order them to fire. Why would I order a volley when I was standing directly in the line of fire myself?"
Public Position: I did everything in my power to keep the peace and command my men to hold their fire.
Secret Objectives: Avoid the death penalty; show that the crowd was yelling 'Fire!' to mock and confuse the soldiers.
Negotiation Strategy: Describe the overwhelming noise, ice, and fear. Reiterate that standing in front of the guns is proof of innocence.
Cut along dotted line Bloody Boston
Witness
Samuel Maverick (Witness)
"The soldiers had been provoking us for weeks. They came out with bayonets fixed, looking for a fight, and fired on boys who were just shouting."
Public Position: This was a cold-blooded massacre of unarmed boys by ruthless regular soldiers looking to bully Boston.
Secret Objectives: Secure a guilty verdict for Preston; leverage the tragedy to force the complete removal of British troops from Boston.
Negotiation Strategy: Appeal to the jury's sympathy. Emphasize that the colonists had no real weapons and were in their own town.
Cut along dotted line Bloody Boston
Sentry
Private Hugh White (Sentry)
"I was alone guarding the Customs House when fifty men surrounded me, screaming, striking my gun with clubs, and throwing heavy blocks of ice."
Public Position: I was terrified for my life. When my fellow soldier was knocked flat by a club, a shot went off in the confusion.
Secret Objectives: Prove there was no coordinated firing plan; avoid getting hanged for doing your basic duty to protect crown property.
Negotiation Strategy: Detail the physical injuries you sustained. Point to the clubs and ice blocks as direct weapons of assault.
Cut along dotted line Bloody Boston
Bloody Boston Simulation Guide Page 2 of 2
Day 5 Checkpoint Handout
3. Thesis & Arguable Claim (Competency ELA 3.1)
Directions: Your letter must open with an engaging hook and a highly specific arguable claim (thesis) that previews your core reasons for supporting independence. Draft your opening elements below.
A. The Hook (Setting the high-stakes tone for fellow delegates):
B. The Claim/Thesis Statement (Claiming independence is the ONLY path, previewing 2 key abuses):
4. Evidence Outlines & Counterclaims (Competency ELA 3.2)
Directions: A masterly argument doesn't ignore opposition. Plan how you will cite historical facts to support your points and how you will dismantle a Loyalist's objection.
Evidence Pillar 1
What specific historical detail/source from our 5 days of study will you cite to prove the Crown has forfeited its right to rule?
Dismantling Counterclaims
What is a key Loyalist argument (e.g., virtual representation, fear of mob violence) and how will you disprove it?
SUMMATIVE CLIMAX
Synthesizing the Final Call to Action (Competency ELA 3.5)
Your Compelling Conclusion Task: Your open letter must end by urging other delegates to vote in favor of the Declaration of Independence. Draft 3 strong closing lines that restate your thesis, synthesize your historical arguments, and propose a bold course of action.
