He was a descendant of William and Elizabeth Burritt from Stratford, Connecticut. He first worked as a blacksmith. As an adult he was active as a lecturer in many causes, opposing slavery, working for temperance, and trying to achieve world peace. In the early 1840s Burritt began to tour New England, speaking against war and promoting brotherhood. His sobriquet "Learned Blacksmith" arose from a period when he earned a living as a blacksmith in Worcester, Massachusetts. He founded a weekly paper, the "Christian Citizen", in Worcester in 1844. By this time, Burritt had emerged at the head of a group of radical pacifists within the American Peace Society, and took on George Cone Beckwith, who supported a gradualist attitude on multiple fronts. There was a confrontation in 1845. Burritt was given the chance to take over as editor of "The Advocate of Peace", the organ of the American Peace Society, but Beckwith employed delaying tactics. When Burritt came into post at the beginning of 1846, he renamed the publication as "The Advocate of Peace and Universal Brotherhood". But when Beckwith had mustered enough support, in May, the decision was reversed. The infighting cost the Society its President, Samuel Elliott Coues, who resigned. In the summer of 1846, the disillusioned Burritt left the cautious Beckwith, and went to England. He stayed initially with Joseph Sturge. Setting off in July on a walking tour, he went to Worcester, the namesake town, to speak. He travelled widely around a new home in Harborne, then a rural village, largely on foot. He was sympathetic to the industrial and political culture of Birmingham, and became a friend of many of its leading citizens, so that what he wrote about it was largely positive. During his time in Birmingham he lived in a house which he named New Britain Villas. It was later home to Edward Chitham, who also wrote a book on the Black Country. Burritt was actively involved the local community, taking part in the committee for the rebuilding of St. Peter's Church, Harborne. During a trip abroad in 1846–47, Burritt was touched by the suffering of the Irish peasantry. Burritt founded the peace organization the League of Universal Brotherhood in 1846. He launched it at Pershore, and it was supported by Sturge, James Silk Buckingham, and John Jefferson of the London Peace Society. The Quaker Edmund Fry (1811–1866) became its Secretary, and Charles Gilpin a supporter.