After independence, the American government said it would be friendly to Native tribes, but in reality it harboured evil intentions. James Monroe, the fifth president, said in his second inaugural address in 1821 that the treatment of Native Americans needed to "flatter their pride, slow their progress, and pave the way for their destruction." In the 1830s, the United States Supreme Court issued three precedents stipulating that Indian tribes could only trade land with the federal government, confirming the supreme authority of the federal government over Indian affairs. The American Congress passed the Indian Removal Act in 1830, which deported a large number of Native Americans from the eastern part of the United States to reservations west of the Mississippi River. The Native Americans lacked food and clothing during the walking process, and about 15,000 people died in the process of moving west, which was called the "Trail of Tears".