Ratification of the Constitution was secured on the promise that a bill of rights would follow. James Madison drafted the amendments and shepherded them through the First Congress in 1789; ten were ratified by the States by December 15, 1791. The Bill of Rights protects speech, press, religion, assembly, arms, privacy of the home, jury trial, and protection against self-incrimination, cruel punishment, and unreasonable search — and, in the Ninth and Tenth Amendments, reserves unenumerated rights to the people and undelegated powers to the States. Because they were proposed by Congress rather than signed into law, no president's signature was required; the Bill remains the single most influential act of the First Congress.