In 1809, he argued before the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of Fletcher v. Peck, and the Supreme Court ultimately agreed with Adams's argument that the Constitution's Contract Clause prevented the state of Georgia from invalidating a land sale to out-of-state companies. Later that year, President James Madison appointed Adams as the first United States Minister to Russia in 1809. From his diplomatic post, Adams observed the French Emperor Napoleon's invasion of Russia, which ended in defeat for the French. In February 1811, Adams was nominated by President Madison as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. In Smithson's will, he stated that should his nephew, Henry James Hungerford, die without heirs, the Smithson estate would go to the government of the United States to create an 'Establishment for the increase & diffusion of Knowledge among men.' After the nephew died without heirs in 1835, President Andrew Jackson informed Congress of the bequest, which amounted to about US$500,000 ($75,000,000 in 2008 U.S. dollars after inflation).