Continue to Stand in the Gap: Benton County

Covered bridge, Benton County, OR

Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman who needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth.  II Timothy 2:15

Benton County, home of Oregon State University and Linn-Benton Community College, was established in 1847. Corvallis, the home of OSU, is also the county seat.

You can read more about Benton County here, here, and here.

Nine Oregon counties have “home-rule” charters, giving citizens more control. Voters decide which county positions are elected. In Benton County, one of the nine home-rule counties, the commissioners and the sheriff are elected, the three commissioners for four-year terms. Currently, they are Xan Augerot, Pat Malone, and Nancy Wyse.

Jef Van Arsdall is the Benton County Sheriff

Other county officials include District Attorney John M. Haroldson; Assessor Tami Tracy; Clerk James Morales.

Benton County, OR

The county was named for Thomas Hart Benton, a Missouri Senator and strong proponent for Manifest Destiny, or the belief that the United States was destined to extend from coast to coast. He was a highly regarded figure in American politics, a close associate of Andrew Jackson of Tennessee who later became President of the United States. Benton was influential in the Republic of Texas being annexed to the U.S., and in pushing for the settlement of the Oregon question, which resulted in the Oregon Territory becoming part of the U.S.

In 2018 Ed Ray, the president of OSU, made an announcement concerning the renaming of three buildings on campus due to the names’ association with racism. One was the Benton Annex, which became the Hattie Redmond Woman and Gender Center, named after an Oregon suffragist. Thomas Hard Benton indeed did own slaves in Missouri and supported policies supporting the disenfranchisement of the indigenous population. However, in later life, he became anti-slavery in his beliefs, and in his support for certain legislation. He had a moral compass, and, while in favor of annexing Texas, was not in favor of some of the unethical means employed to do it. He wanted the land for regular people – farmers – not land speculators and the wealthy. By the same token, he worked toward the Oregon border being the 49^th parallel rather than the “Fifty-four forty or fight” that represented greed and overreaching. ("Fifty-four forty or fight” was a popular slogan in 1846 among those who wanted ownership of the entire Oregon Country. President Polk used it as a campaign slogan in 1844 and is said to have been willing to go to war with the British to gain control of the entire territory.)

Benton was responsible for the legislation introducing the early Homestead Acts that provided land for thousands of Americans in the new territories.

Benton was not an Oregonian, but his life and legacy deeply impacted Benton County and the entire state of Oregon. Like so many of our ancestors and founding fathers, he was a mixture – not always right, but not always wrong. Theodore Roosevelt published a biography of Benton, and John F. Kennedy wrote about him in Profiles of Courage. His son-in-law, John C. Fremont, explored much of the Pacific Northwest.

Thomas Hart Benton’s life and legacy remind us of the need to forgive our forebears their weaknesses and uphold the strengths and the good legacy left behind. Also, in prayers for Benton County, which has always been a strong supporter of education, remember OSU and the other educational institutions. Much wisdom is needed for administrators, even in seemingly minor decisions around statues on campus or the naming of buildings.