. 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 task of preserving the Union has not yet been accomplished. The dead soldiers had not completed their missions in an honorable way. The dead soldiers did not live to see the outcome of the Battle of Gettysburg. The citizens of America will never be free from slavery.

In this passage from the Gettysburg Address, what Lincoln means by the phrase "unfinished work", is The task of preserving the Union has not yet been accomplished. The Gettysburg Address was delivered by Abraham Lincoln in 1863, in Soldier's National Cemetery, a cemetery for Union soldiers killed at the Battle of Gettysburg. He honored them and reminded the people that they had sacrificed for equality, freedom and national unit. So, preserving the Union had not yet been accomplished.