When the population of Nova Scotia was increased by many thousands of Loyalists who fled New England after the American Revolution, New Brunswick was organized (1784) into a separate colony. As trees were cut down for shipbuilding, the land was cleared for farming. By the middle of the 19th cent. settlement was extending into the interior, and St. John was a busy port and shipbuilding town. Dissatisfaction with the arbitrary rule of the provincial governor resulted in the achievement of responsible (or cabinet) government in 1849. In 1867, under the British North America Act, federation with the other provinces into the dominion of Canada was somewhat reluctantly accepted.