Volume 1: The Nation Builders establishes the background upon which the subsequent volumes can be more accurately judged.
I present a concise history of the British Isles with emphasis on consequential population diversity and the pitiful and futile struggle to find good government within a monarchical system. I also present a brief history of the Native American people of the southeast quarter of North America. Having established these origins, the work moves briskly through the American colonial period and through the American Revolution, because understanding that background is important to understanding the political struggles before, during and after the American Civil War.
The westward movement into Tennessee, complete with some biographical sketches of Andrew Jackson and Sam Houston, portrays the spirit and hardships endured by the nation builders.
At about 1817, the five major biographies in Bloodstains become the major conduit through which the history is thereafter presented. The lives of these five men, who I consider the most significant Civil War era politicians, are presented in parallel to enhance understanding of actions and reactions to the same events.
One of the five is lawyer Abraham Lincoln. You will see in Volume 2 that Lincoln becomes the most prominent leader of the Illinois Republican Party, that he would become the only President of the Federal Government ever elected through a purely sectional political campaign.
Another is farmer and military commander Jefferson Davis, West Point graduate, Mexican War military hero, and Senator from Mississippi. You will see in Volume 2 that he is elected President of the Confederate States of America.
A third is lawyer Stephen Douglas, the leader of the Illinois Democratic Party, and for many years the most powerful man in the Federal Senate. You will see in Volume 2 that his reactionary tactics destroy the national Democratic Party, thereby facilitating a takeover of the Federal Government by the sectional Republican Party.
A fourth is lawyer Charles Sumner of Boston, a literary, somewhat effeminate bachelor. You will see in Volume 2 that he becomes, as Senator from Massachusetts, the leading spokesman for the alleged ideals of the Republican Party.
The fifth is lawyer and ironworks owner Thad Stevens of Pennsylvania, a man always eager to lead whatever political combination looks powerful enough to defeat Democratic Party politicians. You will see in Volume 3 that, as Republican Party Whip and Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, he becomes the most powerful man ever to sit in the Federal House of Representatives.
I also use the biographies of two other leaders to help you live the history. We follow Sam Houston from Tennessee to Texas and through him witness the struggle to establish the Republic of Texas, and to win support for an invitation to merge the Republic of Texas into the United States. The War with Mexico soon follows Texas statehood, but victory is bitter, for it produces the political fight that gives birth to The Demagogues.