diff --git a/requests/api.py b/requests/api.py
index 297f4cbf..a0c17312 100644
--- a/requests/api.py
+++ b/requests/api.py
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ def request(method, url, **kwargs):
     adhoc_session = False
     session = kwargs.pop('session', None)
     if session is None:
-        session = sessions.session()
+        session = sessions.session(config=kwargs.get('config', None))
         adhoc_session = True
 
     try:
diff --git a/requests/defaults.py b/requests/defaults.py
index 3662b0d6..a357e25a 100644
--- a/requests/defaults.py
+++ b/requests/defaults.py
@@ -43,3 +43,4 @@ defaults['keep_alive'] = True
 defaults['encode_uri'] = True
 defaults['trust_env'] = True
 defaults['store_cookies'] = True
+defaults['support_http0.9'] = True
diff --git a/requests/sessions.py b/requests/sessions.py
index cf0f8b9c..0c2de658 100644
--- a/requests/sessions.py
+++ b/requests/sessions.py
@@ -125,7 +125,8 @@ class Session(object):
     def init_poolmanager(self):
         self.poolmanager = PoolManager(
             num_pools=self.config.get('pool_connections'),
-            maxsize=self.config.get('pool_maxsize')
+            maxsize=self.config.get('pool_maxsize'),
+            strict=not self.config.get('support_http0.9')
         )
 
     def __repr__(self):