He received a quality education not only in Greek (the preferred language of teaching in Wallachia at the time), but also in German and French, and was well versed in Western literature.

[3] A patriot during the Phanariote epoch, he sided with the national movement in 1821 (around Tudor Vladimirescu's Wallachian Uprising), and assisted in establishing the Romanian theatre, translating many books and plays from German and French into Romanian, notably the Britannicus of Racine, a literary event of no small importance at the time.

[3] During the debates in the National Assembly over the drafting of an organic law for the Danubian Principalities (see Regulamentul Organic), Văcărescu spoke out against Imperial Russian overseeing, and was placed under arrest before being exiled for the following years.

He wrote philosophical poems, and ballads that found their inspiration in folklore.

Before the 1848 Wallachian revolution, he presided a literary society (Societatea Literară) which served as a front for the radical secret association Frăţia.