Sentence:  John Adams asserted in the Continental Congress ' Declaration of Rights that the demands of the colonies <WSD>were</WSD> in accordance with their charters , the British Constitution and the common law , and Jefferson appealed in the Declaration of Independence `` to the tribunal of the world '' for support of a revolution justified by `` the laws of nature and of nature 's God '' . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun)