Elihu Burritt (December 8, 1810 – March 6, 1879) was an American diplomat, philanthropist, social activist, and blacksmith.

As an adult he was active as a lecturer in many causes, opposing slavery, working for temperance, and trying to achieve world peace.

[2] 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.

[7] 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.

Burritt was actively involved the local community, taking part in the committee for the rebuilding of St. Peter's Church, Harborne.

[1] He launched it at Pershore, and it was supported by Sturge, James Silk Buckingham, and John Jefferson of the London Peace Society.

Female auxiliaries, called 'Olive Leaf Circles', raised funds for the league by selling articles made from free-labour cotton and other raw materials.

[9] Burritt organized the first international congress of the Friends of Peace, which convened in Brussels in September 1848.

[1] The league was shortly an international movement, but its British branch became part of the London Peace Society in 1857.

[11] Burritt was appointed United States consul in Birmingham, England by Abraham Lincoln in 1864.

They included: Each August, New Marlborough, Massachusetts, hosts an annual crafts and community fair in honor of Elihu Burritt.