Bring the chaos of colonial trade into your classroom with Mercantile Mayhem! This interactive simulation includes a reading, critical thinking worksheets, and a hands-on game where students act as 1760s merchants, deciding whether to trade legally or smuggle as Parliament shifts the rules. Perfect for middle and high school history, it engages different learning modalities while helping students grasp the economic tensions that sparked the American Revolution.

What’s Included
History Cat article: No Taxation Without Representation for classroom distribution.
Scratch Pad activity: Vocabulary, cause-and-effect chain, diagramming mercantilism, headline writing, and a point-of-view comparison chart.
In-class game (Mercantile Mayhem): A fast-paced decision making simulation where students play as merchants navigating Britain’s Navigation Acts, taxes, and smuggling.
Answer keys: Complete keys for all Scratch Pad questions and writing prompts.
Teacher’s guide: Detailed two-day lesson plan with warm-up, reading, game instructions, writing prompts, and NCSS standards alignment.
 
Grade Level: 6–10
Duration: 2 class periods

Skills Developed
Identifying cause-and-effect relationships in history
Analyzing economic and political systems (mercantilism, Parliament vs. colonial assemblies)
Comparing perspectives and constructing evidence-based arguments
Engaging in historical simulations and collaborative learning
 
Perfect For
Middle and high school U.S. History classrooms (8th–11th grade)
Units on the American Revolution or colonial America
Teachers looking for interactive lessons beyond the textbook
Building critical thinking and engagement through simulation-based learning

Note to teachers: One hour of prep is recommended to set up the game and cut out the game tokens.