Lincoln said that "in a larger sense," he and the others gathered at Gettysburg "cannot" do something. What was it that they could not do, and why not, according to Lincoln? What did he say they should do instead?

President Abraham Lincoln said that he along with those gathered there can not "dedicate, consecrate or hallow" the ground where the blood of the martyrs flowed.

This is impossible for the ground had already been consecrated by their blood, which the living can never surpass.

Rather, they should try to work on harder for the cause that the men and women had given their lives for, so that the sacrifices of these men did not go in vain.

Explanation:

In his speech at Gettysburg, president Lincoln laid emphasis on the sacrifice of the men at Gettysburg and the need to keep on fighting for the very cause they had sacrificed their lives for.

President Abraham Lincoln said that he and the others gathered at Gettysburg "in a larger sense, can not dedicate-can not consecrate-can not hallow-this ground".

He said this because the ground had already been consecrated by "brave men, living and dead, who struggled here ... far above our poor power to add or detract".

Instead, he proposes that they should be "dedicated to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced ... 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."