When did prejudice start in the US?

Answer 1

Prejudice seems to be part of human nature. It's a way in which we assert that "we" are better than "they" are. Perhaps it's a justification for "us" taking things from "them", perhaps it's just a way of reinforcing the bonds that keep one "tribe" together. People need to live in groups, and defining who is and who is not part of the group, seems to lead to prejudice.

I'd guess that some of the tribes which we now think of as "native" to the area of the modern US thought that they were superior to other tribes. There have been traces of earlier ethnic groups, and the newcomers probably thought badly of them. Prejudice was not invented in Europe, and would not have arrived in the "New World" with them.

Prejudice has always been in America even before it became the US. If it wasn't the settlers and the slaves it was different Indian tribes or tribes and explorers.