He was elected a second time in 1837, serving as a member of the "special legislature" summoned to organize the state's response to the Panic of 1837.

While Patton supported the national candidacy of Stephen A. Douglas, Alabama and ten other of the fifteen slave states voted for Breckinridge.

While he initially spoke against secession, Patton financially supported the state's war effort and served as a commissioner in the Confederate government.

The resulting constitution adopted the "white basis" for representation, reducing the influence of the plantation counties, and did not enfranchise freedmen.

As a former Whig and a resident of northern Alabama, Patton reflected the ideal of the "upcountry Unionist" who President Andrew Johnson looked to rebuild the South.

While he vetoed legislation that would have strictly limited the ability of Blacks to move freely throughout the state, he signed into law the convict-leasing system that allowed freed people to be ordered into servitude as punishment for a crime.

He advocated repealing the federal cotton tax, financial support for public schools, and creating the Alabama Insane Hospital at Tuscaloosa.

Heightened concern for the freedmen's plight in Congress led to the passage of the federal Reconstruction Acts and the creation of the Third Military District comprising Alabama, Florida, and Georgia.