The Second Vermont Republic (SVR, 2VR) is a secessionist group within the U.S. state of Vermont which seeks to restore the formerly independent status of the Vermont Republic (1777–91). It describes itself as "a nonviolent citizens' network and think tank opposed to the tyranny of Corporate America and the U.S. government, and committed to the peaceful return of Vermont to its status as an independent republic and more broadly the dissolution of the Union." The organization was founded in 2003 by Thomas Naylor (1936–2012), a former Duke University economics professor and co-author of the 1997 book Downsizing the U.S.A. A 2010 TIME article featured the Second Vermont Republic as one of the "Top 10 Aspiring Nations". History The Second Vermont Republic movement was founded in 2003 by Thomas Naylor, who published the book The Vermont Manifesto that same year. He was motivated by the September 11 attacks. Vermont's Bread and Puppet Theater were early supporters. Naylor began informal meetings of the group, holding the first statewide meeting in October 2003. In June 2004 Second Vermont Republic and Bread & Puppet Theater sponsored a parade in Montpelier and a rally of over 300 people at the State House calling for Vermont independence. University of Vermont professor Frank M. Bryan, co-author of the humorous novel OUT! The Vermont Secession Book, later joined the Advisory Board of the Second Vermont Republic. The "independence" flag adopted by the Second Vermont Republic is similar in design to the Green Mountain Boys regimental flag flown by those who supported creation of the first Vermont Republic. The Second Vermont Republic hosted a "radical consultation" in Middlebury, Vermont in November 2004 which resulted in the creation of the Middlebury Declaration and the establishment of the Middlebury Institute. In April 2005, members of Second Vermont Republic started the Vermont Commons quarterly publication. In January 2005, the Second Vermont Republic stated it had 125 card-carrying members. In October 2005 300 people attended Second Vermont Republic's first statewide secession convention in the House Chamber of the Vermont State House. In November 2006 the group's representatives attended the First North American Secessionist Convention in Burlington, which brought together secessionists from a broad political spectrum. The convention issued the Burlington Declaration. In April 2007 the University of Vermont Center for Rural Studies released its annual "Vermonter Poll" which showed that thirteen percent of eligible voters in Vermont supported secession. That month Frank Bryan