19-APR-1782 :- John Adams secures the Dutch Republic's recognition of the United States as an independent government. The house which he had purchased in The Hague, Netherlands becomes the first American embassy.

John Adams ( 1735 – July 4, 1826) was the second president of the United States (1797–1801), having earlier served as the first vice president of the United States (1789-1797). An American Founding Father, Adams was a statesman, diplomat, and a leading advocate of American independence from Great Britain. Well educated, he was an Enlightenment political theorist who promoted republicanism, as well as a strong central government, and wrote prolifically about his often seminal ideas—both in published works and in letters to his wife and key adviser Abigail Adams. Throughout this life, Adams was opposed to slavery, never owned a slave, and was quite proud of the fact. After the Boston Massacre, with anti-British feelings in Boston at a boiling point, he provided a principled, controversial, and successful legal defense of the accused British soldiers, because he believed in the right to counsel and the "protect[ion] of innocence".

The United States diplomatic mission to the Netherlands consists of the embassy located in The Hague and a consular office located in Amsterdam.

In 1782, John Adams was appointed America's first Minister Plenipotentiary to Holland. According to the United States Department of State, the same year came formal recognition by the Netherlands of the United States as a separate and independent nation, along with badly needed financial help that indicated faith in its future. These loans from Friesland and the United Provinces, which have been called "the Marshall Plan in reverse," were the first the new government received.

The American Embassy building in The Hague opened on July 4, 1959. It was designed by architect Marcel Breuer. Notable Americans such as former Presidents Adams and John Quincy Adams, General Hugh Ewing and Iraq Envoy L. Paul Bremer have held the title of Ambassador.

Besides the embassy, a U.S. consulate-general is located on Curaçao which is responsible for the territory of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Caribbean,but which is not part of the U.S. diplomatic mission to the Netherlands.