What liberties does the Constitution protect? Were the Founders concerned with the government being protected from the people OR the people protected from the government?

Answer 1

The Constitution's overriding purpose if to protect individual rights from government intrusion. The primary right from all else follow is the right to one's own life. This necessarily includes the right to liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness. They added the first ten amendments to the Constitution--the Bill of Rights--to specify certain instances and implementations of those rights to better ensure the protection of the primary rights recognized in the Constitution.