Final answer:
John C. Calhoun believed states had extensive rights over their affairs, including nullifying federal laws and seceding from the Union if necessary, viewing the Constitution as a compact among sovereign states.
Step-by-step explanation:
John C. Calhoun viewed the relationship between state governments and the federal government as one where states had significant powers, including the right to nullify federal laws they found unconstitutional. Calhoun argued that the Constitution was a compact among sovereign states which ratified the document according to Article VII, thus giving them substantial authority over their own affairs. He promoted the idea that when a state deemed a federal law objectionable, it could call a special state convention to render the law null and void within its borders.
Additionally, Calhoun supported a substantive form of states' rights where states could even secede from the Union if their rights under the compact were not respected. His views sharply contrasted with those who saw the federal government as having supremacy over the states, a debate that was central to the contentious political environment leading up to the Civil War.