What you are describing here is the disagreement between
the nationalist position on the Constitution and the states' rights position.
Nationalists argue that the constitution was a compact between the
people of the US. They say this is why the Constitution
starts out "We the People" and not "We the States." States' rights people argued that
the Constitution was a compact between the states. They
point out, for example, that it was the states that ratified the Constitution, not the
people.
Of the choices you give, Clay and Calhoun are
definitely not right. They (especially Calhoun) were advocates of states' rights.
Calhoun was behind the nullification crisis. But both Daniel Webster and John Quincy
Adams were Federalists. Therefore, they both would have believed in the nationalist
position.
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