ead the passage from The Gettysburg Address. 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 . . . What is the “great task” in this passage? the preservation of the Union the memorial service for those who died the battle of Gettysburg the abolition of slavery