When the Declaration of Independence invoked “the laws of Nature and of Nature’s God” that allow a people to assert their separate status as a nation, it certainly did not anticipate atomic weapons. Yet the Declaration rested on the understanding that there is a set order to the universe governed by the laws of nature. These laws extend beyond the physical laws of the natural world to moral laws of right and wrong that can be known through the use of reason. This natural law taught America’s founders the self-evident truths that “all men are created equal” with inalienable rights. 

The Manhattan Project represented the weaponization of the laws of nature as scientists harnessed the natural energy of the atom to create a bomb of unprecedented power. In response to the Trinity test’s successful demonstration of an atomic explosion, physicist I.I. Rabi said that “a new thing had just been born: a new control; a new understanding of man, which man had acquired over nature.” Through knowledge of the laws of nature, science could unlock extraordinary power, but statesmen also had to consult the natural law for guidance on how to use that power. 

The Manhattan Project was the result of decades of scientific investigation around the world into the atom. After using the atomic bomb, President Truman declared, “We have now won the battle of the laboratories, as we have won the other battles.” A leading reason why America won this scientific battle was the founding principles embodied in the Declaration of Independence. The Manhattan Project could not have happened without the collaboration of American and foreign-born scientists, most of whom came to the U.S. to escape the totalitarian regimes in Europe and became American citizens. 

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