Constitution=Freedom?

The Constitution says that we, meaning each individual person, have all these rights and amendments that make us free men and women.  I was looking at our homework which was to answer those questions about the essay coming up, and I came across the one about the ideals of the Constitution.  Eventually I found the word "freedom" written down in my list of bullet-pointed things.  It stuck out to me for some reason, does the Constitution really make all of us free people?  There are sort of two ways of looking at it; on one hand yes because it is giving us all rights and protection against our own government which therefore makes us free, or at least as close to free as the government thinks we should be.  Also, no because by even having a set body of laws we are being restricted in many ways.  It really depends on how one defines the word freedom.  The dictionary defines freedom as, "Exemption from external control, inference, regulation, etc..."  If that is the case, then nobody in this world is free.  Is it really even possible to be free?  Think about it, the only people who were truly free were the first people who set foot on this earth.  My personal definition of freedom is being able to direct one's future in whichever way he/she chooses.  In that, the Constitution fails to provide freedom, in fact, I believe each individual is the only one who can provide freedom for themselves.  When the Constitution says it grants us freedom of speech, religion, etc..., that is saying that we were not able to do so before hand.  That is like me saying everyone is now allowed to wear tye-dye shirts.  What, we were not able to before?  So to answer my first question, if not already known, the Constitution does not make us free people, it is actually quite the opposite.  That is not to say the Constitution is not necessary, but that is a entirely separate matter.