"We spend an awful lot of time in our national life pointing our how we're different from each other," Burns said. "Somebody's blue state or red state, left or right, gay or straight, young or old, black or white, male or female. And we forget to select what we share in common, which is most things.

"The national parks fit into this," he added. "And the occasion of a new national park helps us invigorate this idea that we are also all in this together, (and) as much as we celebrate our individualism and our free will and our separation form the state, that the state has created many wonderful things. Among them, at the top of the list, I would suggest, are the national parks."

You can hear Samuel's entire interview with Burns in the audio below.

Pinnacles National ParkPinnacles National Park

Ken Burns on Pinnacles National Park: 'Hallelujah'