He studied law in Chicago with Lyman Trumbull, friend of Lincoln, and Senator of the United States for eighteen years.

His first public office was member of Cleveland City Council,[2] serving from 1886 through 1888, after which time he was elected to the United States House of Representatives.

[3] He was elected to the House of Representatives for the Fifty-first United States Congress in 1888 from the Ohio 21st District in Cleveland but was defeated for re-election in 1890 by his Democratic Party opponent, Tom L. Johnson.

He was not the Republican nominee in 1892, but was nominated again in 1894 and won election to the Fifty-fourth United States Congress, this time defeating his erstwhile opponent and still incumbent, Tom L. Johnson.

During his later House service, he was appointed by President Harding to the World War Debt Funding Commission in 1922; and was chairman of the United States delegation to the conference for the control of international traffic in arms at Geneva, Switzerland, in 1925.

From 1900 to 1912, Burton owned a country residence in Dover (now Westlake), Ohio, which had been built in 1838 by Thomas and Jane Hurst.