I think one needs to consider the level of social development of Europeans at the time of first contact with Natives. Most Europeans were illiterate or semi-literate farmers or landowners with very narrow horizons, and the more educated part of the social and political elite was a very narrow group. Many of the people who first came to North America were traders and adventurers, some of them failed members of the social elites but others very rough individuals. And the farmers who first settled in North America would generally have been poorly educated, probably with narrower horizons than most of the Native people they met. One advantage they had was iron tools and firearms, but the main advantage for settlers was the initial lack of immunity by Natives to European diseases - that really thinned the ranks of the Native people. But during the early period, it wouldn't have been difficult for the two cultures to merge if either side had wished it - remember that most Native people in eastern North America were subsistence farmers, just like most Europeans, but without the same tools or livestock. I doubt if either side was interested in integrating, for the most part, but in the southeastern U.S. there were some Native tribes, especially the Cherokee, who adopted European ways and tried to become part of American society. They were forcibly removed to the west, with great loss of life. It's one of the most shameful episodes in American history. And here in Canada, although British and later Canadian authorities did try to accommodate Native people to some extent, as long as they didn't prevent white expansion, many white individuals were quite hostile to Native people and in some parts of the country they still are.
Of course, Native people aren't blameless, and they're the ones who now cling to the reserve system, and they often have a very negative attitude toward white people. Racism unfortunately seems to be part of the human condition. We tend to favour our tribe, however it's defined, and to fear "the other", however it's defined. And that less than admirable human trait has certainly been a major factor in relationships between Natives and others here in North America.
Very well said, Aberdeen.
I do think, however, that the case of the Cherokee is proof of the fact that it wouldn't have much mattered whether the Native Americans in larger numbers tried to adapt to "European" culture. The increasing numbers of European settlers wanted their rich lands, and they took them. Once the flood gates to European immigration opened and the massive increase in population began, it was over. What happened to the advanced civilizations of Mexico and Peru is another example. The Spanish wanted their wealth and their lands, and thanks to their iron weapons and the diseases they happened to carry and for which the natives had no immunity, they got them. The same thing happened with the Portuguese in Brazil. Nor, in my opinion, should we expect any civilization to take kindly to "integration" at the point of the gun of invaders.
I also don't see the reservation system as at all motivated by any benign intent, unless one were to say that not setting out deliberately to exterminate these people is benign. (And yes, at least the the Native Americans in North America weren't enslaved, as were the Amerindians of the Caribbean and Mexico and South America.) The Sioux provide a pertinent example of how the reservation system worked in practice, I think. They had reservation lands in the Black Hills of the Dakotas, but then gold was discovered there. So, they were forcibly moved to barren lands incapable of sustaining agriculture even had they wished to adopt it. Or, take the Indians of the American southwest. Has anyone ever been on those reservations for any length of time? It's heartbreaking. There are
no sources of water, for God's sake. It's a desert. How were they supposed to adopt agriculture? And the Dawes Act was, in my opinion, a joke. Those poor people had no concept of individual land ownership. Within a few years, most of them had sold their land to Europeans for a pittance.
Just from a legal standpoint, the treaties that were signed with the Native Americans weren't worth the paper they were written on, as they were routinely abrogated. As for the reservation system, all it meant was that the Native Americans were progressively shunted on to poorer and poorer land, land incapable of sustaining any kind of agriculture even had they wished to adopt it.
As for the Indian schools as an "integration" tool, the record is very mixed, in my opinion. I will admit that the impulse was benign in that there was a desire to integrate them into "modern" culture. However, when the children stubbornly clung to the language and the culture of their parents, and the dormitory system was enforced, we're talking about a different thing. Forcibly tearing children away from their parents, and sending them to schools where they were routinely whipped for speaking in their native languages is
not the way to win hearts and minds.
In terms of integration, the best results were probably those from the Mission system which was used to some extent in the west, including California. Of course, it could be said that in that case the Amerindians were little better than serfs.
I'm sure you're familiar with all these sources, but for those who aren't:
The Cherokee Nation and the Trail of Tears:
http://www.amazon.com/Cherokee-Peng...d_sim_b_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=0H3VFWETMV35EAX61N7R
The Trail of Tears and the Forcible Removal of the Five Civilized Tribes:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Trail-Tea...d_sim_b_4?ie=UTF8&refRID=0H3VFWETMV35EAX61N7R
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, primarily about the Sioux, forever changed the way that I view this issue.
http://www.amazon.com/Bury-My-Heart...d_sim_b_3?ie=UTF8&refRID=0H3VFWETMV35EAX61N7R
There are also some excellent videos and movies:
http://www.amazon.com/Trail-Tears-A...d_sim_b_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=0H3VFWETMV35EAX61N7R
The last two chapters of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee made into an Emmy Award winning documentary narrated by Aidan Quinn.
http://www.amazon.com/Bury-My-Heart...d_sim_b_3?ie=UTF8&refRID=1HPWAEHJPE4DN8CT1BG8
One of the finest and most honest movies ever made, in my opinion, about the encounter between Europeans and Native Americans: The Mission. It also has an extraordinary musical score by Ennio Morricone and great performances by Robert DeNiro, Jeremy Irons, and Aidan Quinn.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mission_(1986_film)
As an antidote, just so that we don't romanticize Amerindian culture: Black Robe
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Robe_(film)
Of course, it goes without saying that this kind of behavior shouldn't be laid entirely at the door of "Europeans", much less solely "Anglo-Saxon" Europeans. This is, unfortunately, to one degree or another,
human behavior.