Every year on April 19, Dutch-American Friendship Day is observed. This day is set aside to remember when the Netherlands and the United States established diplomatic ties. The United States of America's independence was first acknowledged by the Netherlands. John Adams, the country's second president, was welcomed as the United States of America's Minister Plenipotentiary by the States-General in The Hague in 1782. The first American Embassy in the world was established in a home that John Adams purchased on the same day in The Hague.