I know before the US had income taxes the Federal government depended greatly on excises and tariffs, but I'm curious what the individual states did to generate revenue before modern income and sales tax systems were implemented.
This answer is summarized from a wonderful paper "The Historical Evolution of State and Local Tax Systems"
The answer is some combination of property taxes on real estate and license taxes (fees, basically). Poll taxes were also common in some states. Some states also levied excise taxes on the sale of liquor.
But property taxes were the main mechanism by which local and state governments raised most of their revenue in the 19th century.