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".