The fight against anarchism in the early 20th century was framed within a wider political debate over the definition of American identity. While politicians and judges sought to brand anarchists as foreigners, un-American citizens who were to be excluded from the national polity, some anarchist activists like Emma Goldman tried to “Americanize” anarchism, allying themselves with radicals and liberals in an attempt to widen their audience, reusing tropes and figures of American history, and accusing the U.S. government of being un-American in its attack on free speech and its narrow definition of Americanism.