IMO, NA's were here for hundreds of years and lived in tribes. Were they here, yes, but when you talk of "Nation Building" they generally did not do anything outside of their own tribe.
When the European's settled here, they eventually created states and untimely formed a nation with laws and governance. Everything good and bad that happened after that was done under the nation of the Unites States of America.
Was there already a pattern to follow, yes kinda, overall Europe was much more advanced than any NA tribe when it came to modern living. Thats not to disparage NA's, its just to say they were not interested or focused on progress as we know it. They were content live in teepees and live off the land, and did not care (or had no knowledge of how to) to build structures, cities and town to live in.
Most of what this country is—democracy, industrial revolution, structured living, etc—all happened after Europeans settled here. And When he talks of "Culture" most of was because of influences we took from Europe. If you look at the buildings and traditions of the past, they were all modeled after European architecture and Catholic traditions.