One problem is that they had a number of interlocking visions for a civil society, many of which have also not been realized. So then it's less clear what they

One problem is that they had a number of interlocking visions for a civil society, many of which have also not been realized. So then it's less clear what they would do in response. For example, Jefferson's set of ideals was roughly: - Decentralized government, so people can rule themselves at a local level. - Universal literacy and civic knowledge, through free public education, so a civil society would exist and have the knowledge to govern itself wisely. - Relatively good economic equality, as it was envisioned as primarily a nation of independent individuals who own their own tools and/or land, trading with each other of their own free will: yeoman farmers, tradesmen, shopkeepers, etc. (excluding slaves, it must be said...). It's not clear what his alternative proposal would be if those conditions didn't all hold. For example on #3, Jefferson viewed the social tensions produced by industrialization in Britain with alarm, but thought the U.S., with its large amount of free land and different culture, could avoid them just by just avoiding centralizing, factory-based industrialization. Instead he hoped machines would be introduced in a more decentralized manner, with farmers and tradesmen owning a few machines here and there, as was the case with the printing presses. That would avoid the problem of poor masses of urban workers and be consistent with the ideal of decentralized free men governing themselves. But of course, he was wrong on that, and the U.S. got mass industrialization anyway, just a bit later than Britain.