In 1831, Tocqueville obtained from the July Monarchy a mission to examine prisons and penitentiaries in the United States and proceeded there with his lifelong friend Gustave de Beaumont. While he did visit some prisons, Tocqueville traveled widely in the United States and took extensive notes about his observations and reflections. He returned within nine months and published a report, but the real result of his tour was "De la démocratie en Amérique", which appeared in 1835. Beaumont also wrote an account of their travels in "Jacksonian America: Marie or Slavery in the United States" (1835). During this trip, he made a side trip to Montreal and Quebec City in Lower Canada from mid-August to early September 1831.