President Madison appointed Adams as minister to Russia in 1809. The Senate confirmed him a by a vote of nineteen to seven. Adams got along exceedingly well with Russian czar Alexander I. In fact, Adams enjoyed his position in Russia so much that he even turned down an appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court—something unimaginable in modern-day America. Another reason for Adams’s decision might be that his position as minister to Russia paid considerably more than the salary of a justice on the Court.