An examination of the various ways by which the theoretically iron walls seperating the Whig and Loyalist communities during the American Revolution were interpenetrated by the social conventions that allowed family, officers, people of color, and the like to circumvent the obstructions to social interaction. The end result being that this allowed for a fairly rapid reconstruction of civil society in New York City with the end of the war. If a little short on theory, the author has no shortage of interesting anecdotes by which to illustrate how social interaction was maintained under trying circumstances. ( )