Memoir 1, Page 118, Slaveholding Statistics

"not over one third of the Southern population were directly interested in Slaves"

As Woods writes, only 1/3 of the Southern population owned slaves. Of the roughly 385,000 slaveholders throughout the South and border states, 88% (around 338,800) families held fewer than 20 slaves. Only around 35% (between 11,550 and 19,250) of all slaveholders held over 100 slaves. As a result, the planters that Woods is referencing make up a very small minority of the Southern population yet held a massive amount of influence throughout the region.