Three years later, Law emigrated to the United States and soon settled in Washington, D.C., then undeveloped but designated as the national capitol.

A widely read intellectual, he had grand visions for bringing Enlightenment ideas to bear in reshaping both colonial British India and the early American republic.

Thomas Law was born on October 23, 1756, in Cambridge, England, as the youngest son of a clerical British family.

As collector, in addition to fiscal duties he had responsibilities that combined a judicial and executive nature of a chief magistrate.

As a policy-maker he helped devise the so-called "Permanent Settlement", which transformed the basis of taxation and land tenure for the natives of India, while attempting to establish a secure revenue base for the company.

Law first went to New York, where he met James Greenleaf who told him of speculative and development opportunities in Washington, DC, which had been designated as the national capital in 1790.

[13] Soon after their marriage, Law and Elizabeth moved temporarily into a new house built on 6th Street SW as part of development in that area.

At her death, the said real estate was to be reconveyed to Thomas Law and his heirs, clear of encumbrances by the annuity administrators.

Law built several buildings in DC, including a hotel and other properties along New Jersey Avenue, SE, and invested in others.

He bought land down to Buzzard's Point, an area along the East Branch of the Potomac, and established some commercial businesses there, including a sugar mill.

[16] But early development in the city was concentrated around the White House and Capitol, the center of its political life, and the Greenleaf syndicate's failure would also deeply affect his finances, and cause litigation.

[17] Over time, Law assumed a prominent role in the city's social, political, and economic life, becoming known as an energetic, if somewhat eccentric, promoter of his adopted country.

After the War of 1812, in which Washington had suffered burning by the British, Law led an effort to retain the national capital there.

He directed construction of a temporary Capitol, so Congress would have a place to meet, and to thwart some who proposed moving the national capital elsewhere.

[8] The senior Law also worked tirelessly to gather support to build a canal through the city to facilitate trade.

Under the pseudonym "Homo" in the 'National Intelligencer', Law advocated the creation of a national paper currency, publicly financed debt and an agricultural society, all to improve the country's economic development.

He invested more in the national capital through thirty years than did the federal government, which a later historian found both remarkable and depressing.

[20] In 1817 Law bought a plantation, known as the Retreat or Tusculum, in Prince George's County, Maryland, from which he could see the East Branch of the Potomac and the city.

[8] Privately, Law supported the abolition of slavery, as well as the colonization of free blacks outside the bounds of the United States.

Law also manumitted Ann (Nancy) Dandridge Costin and her children in exchange for small sums of money.

By a codicil to his will, Thomas Law also bequeathed $5,000 to his legitimate grandchildren, Edmund, Eliza, and Eleanor Rogers, with a provision that the will should be null and of no effect if they should set up a claim under the marriage settlement he had made with Elizabeth P. C.

[23][6][8] The Maryland Historical Society maintains the Thomas Law Family Papers (1791-1834), including some of his sons Edmund and John.