The Federal government of 200 years ago had a lot less money and performed much fewer functions than the Fed gov of today even during the current shut down.

For those interested, funding gaps only really became a thing in the 1970's, during Ford's administration [0]. It wasn't until a new interpretation of the Anti-Deficiency Act of 1880 that they became known as "shutdowns" in 1980 [1]. So a relatively recent phenomenon.

Hilariously, prior to that law, the executive branch would overspend early in the year, forcing more spending from congress in order to meet their contracts [2].

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_federal_...

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_shutdowns_in_the_Un...

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antideficiency_Act#Provisions, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coercive_deficiency