Panoutsos Notaras participated in the unsuccessful Orlov Revolt in 1770, and in 1818 became a member of the "Filiki Etaireia", a secret society preparing for another Greek uprising against the Ottoman Empire. He considered the start of the Greek War of Independence in March 1821 as too premature, and fell out with the "Etaireia"s envoy, Papaflessas, over the issue. Nevertheless, after the uprising had progressed, and following the execution of his brother Andrikos by the Ottomans in April and the arrival of Dimitrios Ypsilantis in the Peloponnese in June, he came around to supporting it. He was elected as a representative to the First National Assembly at Epidaurus in late 1821, and participated in the 12-member committee that drafted the Greek Constitution of 1822. In the first Executive of the Provisional Government, serving from January 1822 to April 1823, he was Minister of Economy. From 11 October 1824 until 6 April 1826, Notaras served as President of the Legislative Corps, although the body was largely sidelined by the Executive at the time. In the Greek civil wars of 1824–1825, he sided with the "government" faction although he initially sympathized with the "military" faction around Theodoros Kolokotronis. Nevertheless, as President of the Legislative he tried unsuccessfully to mediate between the two sides, and urged the government to show leniency and pardon their opponents.