The Camden District came into being in 1769, a large area bounded by the Lynches River on the east, the Broad and Congaree Rivers on the west, extending from the North Carolina state line roughly 2/3 of the way to the coast, where is was bounded by the Georgetown District.

In 1785, Camden District was subdivided into the counties of York, Chester, Fairfield, Lancaster, Richland, Claremont, and Clarendon. This arrangement lasted until 1791, when the counties of York and Chester were removed from Camden District and became part of the Pinckney District. At this time, Kershaw County was created out of the lower portion of Lancaster County.

In 1800, most of the counties were transformed into districts, and the Camden District vanished from the map. York, Chester, Fairfield, Lancaster, Kershaw, and Richland counties all became districts. Claremont, Clarendon counties were combined with a portion of the Cheraws District known as Salem County to become Sumter District. In 1855, Sumter District was divided, and Clarendon District came back into being with the same boundaries as the old Clarendon County of 1785.

In 1868, the South Carolina Constitution decreed that "the Judicial Districts shall herewith be designated as Counties," and so the term district was abandoned. At that time, there were no changes in the boundaries of the counties formed from the old Camden District. In 1897, Cherokee County was created from parts of Spartanburg, Union, and York Counties. The last change affecting the area originally in the Camden District came in 1902, when Lee County was formed from parts of Darlington, Kershaw, and Sumter counties.

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