The politically well-connected writer, apparently seeking a federal appointment as Postmaster or some other position appointed by the Postmaster General of the United States, was lobbying friends in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives to support his candidacy. The newly-elected President Franklin Pierce was about to sworn into office the following week but Denlinger had given up on the idea of personally visiting Washington because “Report says that the city is already full to overflowing and that the meanest accommodations cannot be had for less than from three to five dollars per day. It is even said that lodgings can hardly be obtained even in a stable. So you see what folly it would be for such a modest man as I am to be caught in such a crowd.” Many of the people he was lobbying in Harrisburg, in town for the Democratic State Convention, were planning to visit the national capital thereafter and Denlinger thought he could round up enough VIP support to win him the position he desired.

Writing to a friend in his hometown of Beaver, on the Ohio River in western Pennsylvania, Denlinger also offers an inside view of political doings in Harrisburg, naming many names and summing up his view of the regional distinctions between politicians in the Legislature: “Thie place is now full of people from all parts of the State, attending the State Convention and on their way to Washington but the major part seem to be from the Eastern Counties. There is a marked difference between Eastern and Western men here. The former appear aristocratic, wearing the finest broadcloth, clothing cut in the extreme of fashion, sporting heavy gold chains, and wearing the spring style of hats with flat brims, which give rise to the idea of a sick chair, while the latter dress like ourselves, are clever and easily approached…”