It’s March 19th. This day in 1879, a small group of Southern Democrats is holding up budget appropriations bills in order to force a fight over federal troops in the South.

Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss how, for the first time, a government shutdown became a proxy war for a bigger political battle — and how it mirrors the many shutdown battles we see today.

Find out more at thisdaypod.com

This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.

Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories.

If you want to support the show directly, you can do so on our website: ThisDayPod.com

Get in touch if you have any ideas for future topics, or just want to say hello. Follow us on social @thisdaypod

Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices