Throughout the reconstruction era, many people in the south were against the northern intervention in their rebuilding, and many were against the advancement of black civil rights. But despite the south's attempts to push out the north, the north had many successes that created a better lasting legacy in the south with more opportunities for African Americans. But instead of eventually assisting the north in their rebuilding, the south persisted in their efforts to place the responsibility of reconstruction on the north, leading to many unnecessary setbacks in the south.

One thing that the south was especially against was ensuring that the newly freed blacks would not gain additional civil rights. In this respect, the north had some initial success over the stubborn south with the development of the Freedman's bureau. The freedman's bureau had success in establishing some schools for blacks in the south, like the one in the picture. Against all southern resistance, these schools were able to educate African Americans, and establish a new from of freedom and expression for the growing equality of blacks.

A failure of the North to successfully reconstruct the south lies with their failure to remove the prejudice and racism many southerns felt to the African Americans. An example of this is the KKK. The klu klux klan was able to spread danger and racism throughout the south, and they were unable to be subdued by the northern forces, leaving freed blacks in the south in a constant state of fear and anxiety.

Although many of the initial successes of reconstruction in the south were overturned, and a series of failures took place across the south, the legacy left behind by reconstruction created a new generation of civil rights leaders and those who were committed to equality. Despite the many setbacks they faced, civil rights advocates such as Fredrick Douglas were able to create a lasting successful legacy in the south, based on the fact that freed blacks would stop at nothing to gain full equality.

Overall, the south's determination to push most of the reconstruction effort on the north resulted in the rise of new civil rights leaders in the south. However many of the advancements made by this new class of leaders were counteracted by the increasingly resistant south. The harsher the north became on the south, the more they seemed to resit the north's new policies. Similarly, the harder the British were on the colonists during the american revolution, the more the colonists were tempted to resist. Like Britain's eventual failure to regain control of the colonies, the north's reconstruction efforts ultimately failed to completely reunite the south. However, in both cases, the south's resistance and the colonist's resistance created new political leadership and freedom advocates.