America would not go to war with Britain. Washington's trouble was not over, however: later that year settlers in western Pennsylvania revolted against a federal tax on whiskey. Many people believed the Whiskey Rebellion, as it was called, was a fulfillment of the democratic promise offered by the Revolutionary War. Washington did not agree. He personally led a force of 12,000 men and crushed the revolt. He dealt swiftly with the uprising, but in the hopes of reconciling the settlers he pardoned the rebellion's ringleaders.