Sentence:  During the Brown trial , however , the state 's most powerful Democratic newspaper , the Providence Daily Post , stated that Brown was a murderer , a man of blood , and that he and his associates , with the <WSD>assistance</WSD> of Republicans and Abolitionists , had plotted not only the liberation of the slaves but also the overthrow of state and federal governments . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  the activity of contributing to the fulfillment of a need or furtherance of an effort or purpose