Before There Was a Vietnam War Protest, We Had a War of 1812 Protest

From the History Site.

The first war to be declared by the United States, the War of 1812,  sparked one of the strongest anti-war movements in American history.  As a matter of fact, this anti-war protest almost went as far as certain states seceding from the United States.  Even stranger, these were the states MOST against the southern states seceding in the middle part of that century.

The Federalist Party held sway in the New England states and they especially opposed the war on economic and political  grounds.

New England Federalists  viewed the War of 1812 as a partisan crusade launched by  Democratic-Republican  President James Madison that would disrupt the region's  shipping and fishing industries.

Advocating states rights, the governors of Massachusetts and Connecticut denied  use of their state militias in the service of :Mr. Madison's War."  As a matter of fact, Massachusetts even  attempted to negotiate a separate peace.

In December 1814, 26 New England Federalist leaders convened in the Connecticut capital of Hartford and threatened secession.  The Hartford Convention's proposal to amend the U.S. Constitution arrived in Washington, D.C.  just after news of the war's conclusion.

All this led to the eventual collapse of the Federalist Party amid charges of treason.

--Brock-Secessionist