In 1811, he was appointed by President James Madison as consul at Riga, then part of Imperial Russia, but declined, and, in 1813, was nominated Consul to the Kingdom of Tunis, where he rescued American citizens kept as slaves by Moroccan slave owners. In 1815, Noah was removed from his position; in the words of U.S. Secretary of State James Monroe, his religion was "an obstacle to the exercise of Consular function." The incident caused outrage among Jews and non-Jews alike.