He performed extensive missionary work in Colorado and the Alaska Territory, including his efforts to suppress Native American languages.

[1] He wanted to become a missionary overseas, but the Presbyterian board told the five foot tall Jackson, who had weak eyesight and was often ill, that he would be better suited for duty in the United States.

[1] After his recovery, Jackson was appointed to La Crescent in Houston County in southeastern Minnesota, where he extended his field hundreds of miles beyond the actual station.

In 1867, US Secretary of State William H. Seward, during the administration of U.S. President Andrew Johnson, had negotiated the Alaska Purchase from Russia.

Captain Michael A. Healy of the United States Revenue Cutter Service, commander of the USRC Bear, was also known for his concern for the native Alaskan Inuit.

During this time, Captain Healy, primarily of European-American ancestry and the first person of African descent to command a U.S. ship, was essentially the law enforcement officer of the U.S. government in the vast territory.

[6] In his twenty years of service between San Francisco and Point Barrow, Healy acted as a judge, doctor, and policeman to Alaskan Natives, merchant seamen and whaling crews.

[7] The Bear and Captain Healy reportedly inspired author Jack London, and are featured prominently, along with Jackson, in James A. Michener's novel, Alaska.

During visits to Siberia (across the Bering Sea from the Alaskan coast), Healy had observed that the Chukchi people in the remote Asian area had domesticated reindeer and used them for food, travel, and clothing.

He worked toward the passage of the Organic Act of 1884, which ensured that Alaska would begin to set up a judicial system and receive aid for education.

In a letter to newly hired teachers in 1887 he wrote: The legacy of Jackson's educational policy is clearly evident in the now precarious state of Alaska's indigenous languages.

[13] In March 1885, Judge Ward McAllister Jr. ruled that the contracts Jackson had secured with Tlingit parents, giving up their children for a period of five years for a small sum of money, to be null and void.

Jackson repeatedly sparred with McAllister and the district attorney, and mounted a campaign with President Grover Cleveland's family members to have the officials dismissed.