<P> Some Unionists and northerners used "The War for the Union", the title of a December 1861 lecture by the abolitionist leader Wendell Phillips . </P> <P> Ordeal of the Union a major eight - volume history published 1947 - 1971 by historian and journalist (Joseph) Allan Nevins emphasizes the Union in the first volume title, which also came to name the series . Because Nevins earned Bancroft, Scribner, and National Book Award prizes for books in his Ordeal of the Union series, his title may have been influential . However, V. 4 is titled Prologue to Civil War, 1859 - 1861, and the following four volumes use "War" in their titles . Volume 6, War Becomes Revolution, 1862--1863, picks up on that earlier thread in naming the conflict; but Nevins does not view Southern secession as revolutionary nor would he support Southern apologist attempts to link the war with the American Revolution of 1775 - 83 . If anything, his choice of the term in regard to the Civil War has more to do with the Industrial Revolution and its profound effects . </P> <P> In the 1920s historian Charles A. Beard used the term "Second American Revolution" to emphasize the changes brought on by the Union's victory . This term is still used by the Sons of Confederate Veterans organization, though with the intent to demonstrate the depth of the Confederacy's cause in a positive light . </P> <P> The name "War of Northern Aggression" has been used to indicate the Union side as the belligerent party in the war . Though sometimes used only jokingly today, the name arose in the 1950s during the Jim Crow era, when it was coined by segregationists who tried to equate contemporary efforts to end segregation with 19th century efforts to abolish slavery . This name has been criticized by historians such as James M. McPherson, as the Confederacy "took the initiative by seceding in defiance of an election of a president by a constitutional majority", and as "the Confederacy started the war by firing on the American flag". </P>

What were the names of the north and south in the civil war