The Euro-American view of the American Indian is historically significant because it shaped the attitudes of those who would later construct Indian policy in the nineteenth century. Whether it was relocation in the 1830's, reservations in the 1850's, or assimilation in the 1880's, the discrimination and oppression of American Indian policy in the U.S. relied heavily on racial stereotypes and the idea of otherness. .
The English landed in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607, without knowing that they had arrived at one of most populated Indian communities on the East coast. There were approximately 14,000 American Indians around the Jamestown area. Everywhere white people went they would run into them. The London directors instructed the settlers to, "deal," with the Indians by any means necessary, which started the notion that, "the only good Indian is a dead Indian," (Morgan 118). They went through Indian villages ruthlessly attacking tribes, capturing their children and putting them to death. Governor Sir Thomas Dale introduced a policy that would give three acres of land to settlers, which, according to Morgan, was the start of the capitalist system in English America, ultimately resulting in the annihilation of American Indian tribes on the East coast, (Morgan 119). Dale's policy of giving away free land to settlers encouraged white people to continue to take land that was not theirs, pushing Indians further and further West, away from the land and culture they were familiar with. The settlers began to farm tobacco, which quickly became a profitable crop. In order to continue making profit they would need more land, and just when the Indians thought the white people had all the land they could possibly want, they wanted more, (Morgan 123). As the population of Jamestown grew, the Indians began to see the Jamestown colony as an invasion of their land. When the Indians attempted to fight back and rid themselves of the English occupier, it gave settlers a reason to go after the Indians.