It’s quite a contrast. The third-worldness of Latin American society today compared to the US, when the Mayan/Aztec empires flourished in the same company while North American Indians never got past hunter-gathering, wheel-less savagery. Climate doesn’t seem to be very much of a factor. Oh, and is religious cannibalism, which is what it was, really that far removed for eating one’s god?
North American indians did have at one time, large agricultural societies. The did not build stone pyramids, but did build large mounds and sizable communities.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mound_Builders
Cultural diffusion from Central America, most likely.
Cannibalism was a lot more widespread among the Amerind then people are willing to admit.