Ken Burns on how the American Revolution "turned the world upside down"

The American Revolution was one of the most significant events in world history because it created a "new thing called a citizen," iconic filmmaker Ken Burns told CBS News, as the nation celebrates the Fourth of July exactly one year before its 250 birthday.

"I think the American Revolution is the most important event since the birth of Christ in all of world history. … I mean, it turned the world upside down," Burns told CBS News' John Dickerson in an interview set to air on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on Sunday.

Before the war that secured the American colonies' independence from Great Britain, "everyone was a subject, essentially under the rule of somebody else," Burns said.