# Benton Township *Township in Carver County, Minnesota, recorded in 1860 as 83.1 percent German-born or of German heritage.* Benton Township is a township in Carver County, [[Minnesota]]. A National Register Multiple Property Documentation Form, *Chaska Brick Resources*, issued through the Minnesota Department of Administration and the State Historic Preservation Office, records that in 1860 its population was 83.1 percent German-born or of German heritage.[^1] The same form gives 78.85 percent for neighboring [[Chaska Township]] in 1860.[^1] It also records that by 1905, nine of the county's eleven townships were at least 25 percent German.[^1] In the project's at-issue record, pair AI-Carver-035 uses these figures as demographic background for events in Carver County between 1917 and 1922.[^1] The pair's federal anchor is the January 2025 presidential action *Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity*.[^2] The pack's record establishes the population figures. It does not establish a causal account of the 1917–1922 events.[^1] ## Where - Benton Township is one of the eleven townships of Carver County, Minnesota, counted as of 1905.[^1] - In 1860, 83.1 percent of Benton Township's population was German-born or of German heritage.[^1] - In the same year, the figure for Chaska Township was 78.85 percent.[^1] - By 1905, nine of Carver County's eleven townships were at least 25 percent German.[^1] - The source form documents the brick industry around [[Chaska]]. It gives that industry's operating period as 1857–1961, with a peak era of 1880–1920.[^1] ## In the at-issue record At-issue pair AI-Carver-035 appears in block B of the record, pairs 23–40. It sets the 1860 shares for Benton Township and Chaska Township beside the 1905 county-wide figure, both drawn from the *Chaska Brick Resources* form.[^1] The pair's anchor is the January 2025 presidential action *Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity*.[^2] The project's stated reason for choosing that anchor is that it represents "the population that would be targeted, measured before the targeting." That wording is the project's own. It is not a statement of the presidential action's purpose.[^2] The pair's text calls the population composition "the necessary predicate for everything that happened to the county between 1917 and 1922." That is the pair's own characterization. The cited demographic source establishes the population shares, not that claim.[^1] ## Notes [^1]: Minnesota Department of Administration / State Historic Preservation Office, *Chaska Brick Resources* (National Register Multiple Property Documentation Form, n.d.) — records 1860 shares of 83.1 percent (Benton Township) and 78.85 percent (Chaska Township) German-born or of German heritage; records that by 1905 nine of the county's eleven townships were at least 25 percent German; gives the brick industry's operating period as 1857–1961. https://mn.gov/admin/assets/Chaska%20Brick%20Resources%20MPDF_tcm36-445033.pdf [^2]: The White House, *Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity* (January 2025) — presidential action serving as the federal anchor for at-issue pair AI-Carver-035. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/ending-illegal-discrimination-and-restoring-merit-based-opportunity/