Žarko and Vida, died as children; Vojislav became a famous doctor in Serbia, and Dejan (Dean) went to study in Imperial Russia and became a lieutenant general and governor-general in the Russian Far East.

Subotić was an ardent Serbian patriot, and during the 1848 Revolution he distinguished himself by his steady resistance to Hungarian pretensions on territories populated by Serbs.

In 1848 he was sent as a delegate to attend the Prague Slavic Congress, 1848, a culmination of the initial phase of Pan-Slav cultural collaboration in the Habsburg Empire.

The congress itself is not described in much detail, but Subotić includes some interesting recollections and evaluations of the historic meeting by Serbian delegates, and by the indomitable Mikhail Bakunin which illuminate more clearly the central theme of his book.

Archpriest Pavle Stamatović and Archimandrite Nikanor Grujić were officiating....As soon as they (Austrian authorities) realized that the Congress turned against their plans, they became furious....and aimed to disband our Congress and arranged the bombing of Prague by General Alfred I, Prince of Windisch-Grätz...." In his memoirs, Jovan Subotić recalled that the fateful events of 1848 propelled him irrevocably into the public life.

His zeal for the national cause led him, in 1848 and 1849, to issue several news releases, articles and pamphlets, to which many of the foremost publicists in Serbia and Montenegro contributed, including Ilarion Ruvarac and Petar II Petrović Njegoš.

Later, he moved to Novi Sad where he was chosen vice-Zupan of Sremska zupanija (the Zupanate of Srem), and in 1862 he became a member of the Appeals Court in Zagreb.

In 1867 Subotić attended the First All-Russian Ethnographic Exhibition and the Pan-Slavic Congress in Moscow, and as a result of it, he lost his government post.

From 1870 to 1872 he was the editor of a political journal called Srpski Narod (The Serbian Public) in Novi Sad, and in 1873 he opened a law practice in Osijek.

As a playwright, Jovan Subotić achieved his purpose by encouraging national spirit and slowly developing the public's interest in the theater.