The Salisbury District of North Carolina, was originally one of six colonial judicial districts established in 1766 by the Governor William Tryon of the Province of North Carolina. Immediately preceding the onset of the American War of Independence in 1775, these six regions were renamed "Military districts" by the North Carolina Provincial Congress and used for organizing the North Carolina militia. The other districts were Edenton, Halifax, Hillsborough, New Bern, and Wilmington districts. The districts designation was discontinued in 1835 during the North Carolina Constitution Convention.