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.