Burt was elected as a Democrat to the Twenty-eighth and to the four succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1843 – March 3, 1853).
He served as chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs (Thirty-first and Thirty-second Congresses).
He served as Speaker pro tempore of the House of Representatives during the absence of Speaker Winthrop in 1848.
He was not a candidate for renomination in 1852.
He resumed the practice of law in Abbeville.
He served as delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1868.
He died in 1883.
He was interred in Episcopal Cemetery.