In this article, the author takes a different approach in teaching U.S. history to young people. His approach is derived from economics but not economics as a long list of concepts embalmed in huge textbooks written for use in Econ 101 and 102. Instead, he suggests, history teachers can do much to improve their instruction by drawing upon a particular approach to inquiry as practiced by economists. Call it the "economic way of thinking." It involves formulating "mysteries" and reasoning about them by means of a small set of powerful principles from economics. In this article, the author provides an example of how the economic way of thinking might be used to help students gain fresh insights into a commonly taught topic in U.S. history--the American Revolution. (Contains 3 notes.)