Adams was elected in 1770 to the Massachusetts legislature, where he served for four years. He served as a member of the Continental Congress in 1774. He also served as a member of the Second Continental Congress from 1775 to 1778. He then served as ambassador to the Netherlands in 1782. Three years later, in 1785, Congress appointed Adams to become the country’s first ambassador to Great Britain. In 1789, he began his two terms as the nation’s first vice president under President George Washington.