Question

Read this passage from the Gettysburg Address. What does Lincoln mean by the phrase unfinished work? It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. The dead soldiers did not live to see the outcome of the Battle of Gettysburg. The dead soldiers had not completed their missions in an honorable way. The task of preserving the Union has not yet been accomplished. The citizens of America will never be free from slavery.

Answer 1

The unfinished work is what the soldiers who died at the Battle of Gettysburg were fighting for. He goes on to explain what that was..."the task of preserving the Union". In the speech, he says that the country was founded on the ideal that all men are equal. With the Civil War and the nation split, the country was still an unfinished work striving to be together and with all of its citizens equal.

Answer 2

The answer is:

The task of preserving the Union has not yet been accomplished.

After the bloody Battle of Gettysburg in 1863, U. S. president Abraham Lincoln delivered a speech to honor the soldiers who gave their lives for the country, and stimulate people to continue to make a better nation. In that respect, the American Civil War would not finish until 1865, so he still wished to encourage Americans to unify the north and south.