Some would say that the nation really was united for the cause, but with each individual region only caring about its problems, how could the nation be united? .
As war always involves fighting between two opposing forces, war always has its consequences, such as reduction in foreign trade, and the possibility of enemy forces capturing your country. In the War of 1812, many groups had apprehensions to the war at hand. New England didn't want a war, as it would cut down on their profitable shipping business. The Southern States were somewhat along the same line as the New England States as Britain bought most of their cotton and tobacco, and a war with Britain would definitely cut off the trade and leave many southern planters with extensive idle inventories of product. The Federalists also had one great apprehension towards the war. At this time, the Federalists were a dying party, partly because of their loss of power in the government, and because of their failing leadership and organization within the party. They feared that citizens of British Canada would infiltrate into the United States. The Federalists feared these Canadian "Commoners" because they would support the Jeffersonian Republicans if they did come into the United States, not the federalists. The Canadians were common workers, not aristocrats like dying breed who were trying in vain to keep the Federalists as an assertive party in American Politics. Because of these apprehensions toward the war, the citizens were not able to unite and join together to support the war that was going on around them. .
Even though the extremely weak military contributed toward the title of "America's worst-fought war", it was not the direct source of this title. However, the military did suffer very bad defeats for several reasons. One of the main reasons was that the military was extremely unprepared to go into war. During Jefferson's presidency, he made drastic military changes which had not yet been rectified by Madison.