In the spring of 1791, Ceracchi came to Philadelphia, then the seat of the United States government, in an attempt to get a commission from Congress for a "Monument designed to perpetuate the Memory of American Liberty" featuring an equestrian statue of Washington.

While waiting for congressional action, he made bust portrait models of several of the founding fathers, such as John Jay, Thomas Jefferson, and Alexander Hamilton.

[2] Ceracchi portrayed Washington in the style of a Roman emperor, with short wavy hair, wearing a toga, which is pinned by a rosette brooch.

[2] However, the bust was then bought by the Spanish minister, Josef de Jaudenes y Nebot, and shipped to Spain.

The statue was delivered in 1821 and displayed in the rotunda of the North Carolina State House, but both were destroyed by fire in 1831.