Luigi Marco Bassani has written a very good book, Liberty, State, and Union: The Political Theory of Thomas Jefferson. Originally published in 2010, the paperback edition was published in 2012.  I have heard Bassani speak, and recently purchased and read the last 70 or so pages of the book.  It is wonderful.  Given that the War Between the States was being fought 150 years ago, there will be a lot of attention paid to that war, the nature of the American union, etc.  The last chapter of Bassani's book is titled, "The Nature of the American Union: Jefferson and States' Rights."  Many readers may be surprised to learn that Jefferson was one of the chief exponent of the notion of states' rights, which--on Jefferson's and Bassani's understanding--is simply the understanding embedded in the Constitution.  Much of the chapter is committed to an explication and exploration of Jefferson's "Kentucky Resolutions" (1798), the most thorough extant writing we have where Jefferson outlines his understanding of the constitutional structure of the U.S. as a compact between the several states.  For those desiring to read a good summary of Jefferson's understanding of the Constitution, these last 70 or so pages of Bassani's book (as well as the Kentucky Resolutions themselves) would be a good place to start.  One can watch an interview with Bassani related to the book here.

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