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capital of Massachusetts, was founded by John Winthrop and his company in 1630. The settlement grew in prosperity until the French and Indian War, when it suffered heavy exactions. Opposition to the measures of the British ministry began here. The Stamp Act and Tea Act aroused indignation. Troops were quartered in the town. On December 16, 1773, a party disguised as Mohawk Indians emptied three cargoes of tea into the harbor. The port was closed by the British Parliament June 1, 1774. The British army, besieged in Boston by the Americans from June, 1775, evacuated the town in March, 1776. The Constitution of the State was here adopted in 1780. In 1822 Boston became a city. From 1830 to 1860 it was regarded as the headquarters of the anti-slavery and other reform movements. The city was visited by a disastrous fire in 1872, which burned on two days, November 9 and 10, involving a loss of over $80,000,000. The population of Boston in 1708 was 12,000; 1719, 18,000; 1780, 23,000; 1800, 25,000; 1850, 139,000; 1875, 360,000; 1890, 448,477.