Marcus Parrot wrote from Washington, D.C., to his brother, Edwin Parrott, in Dayton, Ohio. Marcus, on a political trip to discuss the 'Kansas Question" with members of the U.S. Congress, told him that the "dead-lock in the House has paralyzed [Washington] society" and that social engagements had been "quiet". He wrote Edwin of his surprise to hear an abolitionist speech as a Sunday sermon, and of his desire to speak with Tom Hendricks, Commissioner of the Land Office, regarding the prospective decline in availability of land warrants.