Filmmaker Ken Burns has examined some of the most defining moments of American history.

He's delved into the Civil War, dissected America's response to the Holocaust and chronicled the evolution of jazz music.

For his latest project, Burns turns his lens toward The American Revolution — an event he has called the most significant since the birth of Christ.

Speaking to Morning Edition , Burns said he wanted to "wake people up" to the fact that "for most of human history, most people had been subjects under authoritarian rule and that what happened in the eastern seaboard of North America created citizens — this new thing with responsibilities."

The six-part series — 10 years in the making — tells the story of how the American Revolution unfolded through the accounts of political and

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