It started out pretty well, when they two groups traded resources. Then the colonists started exploring and expanding the empire into Central and Western North America, and they felt the Native Americans got in their way. They started killing any tribes that got in their way, completely destroying a few of them. When they realized that killing them wouldn't solve their problems, the Colonists, now the Americans (this was after the revolutionary war), put the Natives on reservations in an attempt to assimilate (convert) them. They believed this was the best way to destroy their culture, because they were alienated from it. The natives were forced to forget their cultural background to receive education become American citizens, and this further deteriorated their relationship.