How did the US federal government survive with such little taxation?

In the beginning there was hardly any taxation mainly just taxes on alcohol and a few crops. Then to support the War of 1812 we had the gold tax to pay for the war. Then after the war all federal taxes on citizens were ended only having giving tariffs to foreigners to sell their goods here That lasted until the Civil War when money needed to be raised for the war. How did the federal government survive like that, its unimaginable in today's America.