David Campbell was born in 1750 in Augusta County, Virginia. His parents, David and Mary Hamilton Campbell, originated from Northern Ireland and married after immigrating to America. David was named after his father and was one of eleven children.

After attending law school, Campbell joined the colonial effort in the American Revolution (1764-1789) and soon attained the position of major while on the battlefield. In 1779, he married Elizabeth Outlaw. Around 1783, after his service had ended, Campbell moved to Greene County, TN where he was initiated into the First Franklin Convention in 1784 to claim the upper east of Tennessee as its own state called Franklin. However, he did not actively participate; controversially, he received a position to become a member of the General Assembly in North Carolina, the bordering state that vehemently opposed the idea of a State of Franklin and whose representatives managed to end the proposal of the new state when the bill arrived in the legislature.

From the years 1797 to 1809, Campbell served as a judge of the Superior Court. During this time, the Treaty of Holston was hotly debated between Campbell, William Blount and John Sevier (fellow First Franklin Convention member). The Treaty of Holston in 1791 was a peace treaty that declared peace and friendship between the United States and the Cherokee Nation. The treaty caused debate due to the land rights that the Cherokee Nation and the United States claimed. Having lived in the unofficial Rhea County in Tennessee, Campbell was appointed to formally found the county by the Tennessee Legislature in 1810.

With his declining health, David Campbell rested at his many homes and eventually passed away in Rhea County, TN in the year 1812.