This article considers one of the most significant events in African–American history – the Charleston slave Conspiracy of 1822. The author focuses on the causes and prerequisites of this phenomenon, which are divided into 5 groups (political, socio-cultural, socio-economic, demographic and personal motives). Subjecting each of them to a critical analysis, he comes to the conclusion that it is impossible to attribute the Denmark Vesey conspiracy to typical slave uprisings.